Minnesota Twins standout Byron Buxton underwent arthroscopic surgery on his ailing right knee on Friday.
It is the second time in 13 months Buxton has undergone surgery on the knee. He was plagued by patellar tendinitis most of the 2023 season.
The Twins are hoping Buxton will be recovered before the start of spring training. If so, he could return to center field after not playing the field in any of his 85 appearances this season.
“Our hope and our expectation and our goal is to get him ready to play center field,” Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said. “That’s his focus. That’s what he wants, and that’s what we all want. So that’ll be our mission through the offseason — to get him there.”
Buxton’s knee procedure in September 2022 prevented him from having a typical spring training in 2023. The knee didn’t recover fully so Minnesota used him as a designated hitter and he batted just .207 with 17 homers and 42 RBIs.
His final regular season appearance was Aug. 1 due to a hamstring injury. Buxton, who turns 30 in November, received one at-bat in the American League Division Series against the Houston Astros after he was added to the roster due to a shoulder injury to Alex Kirilloff.
Buxton was an All-Star in 2022 when he slugged a career-high 28 homers. The former No. 2 overall pick in 2015 batted .223 with 51 RBIs in 92 games. In nine major league seasons, Buxton has played more than 92 games just once.
“It obviously wasn’t the season Byron wanted from a physical standpoint,” Falvey said of 2023. “We did all we could throughout the course of the year to try to put him in the best position to be successful. He worked really hard.”
Kirilloff, who turns 26 in November, is slated to undergo surgery later this month to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder. Kirilloff is a left-handed thrower.
Kirilloff, a first baseman/outfielder, batted .270 with 11 homers and 41 RBIs in 88 games this season.
–Field Level Media