It’s possible Minnesota Twins center fielder Byron Buxton will represent the United States in a future World Baseball Classic.
On Wednesday, he was stealing from his Team USA counterpart, Baltimore Orioles All-Star Adam Jones, which helped his Twins pick up a somewhat surprising 3-2 win.
Buxton, who was Minnesota’s No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 MLB draft, showed off his fearless approach to playing the outfield by chasing down Jones’ deep drive in the fifth inning and then crashing into the outfield wall.
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That probably caused a few hearts to skip a beat back in Minnesota.
It’s the type of effort that appealed greatly to Minnesota when they selected him. Of course, it was also the same type of effort that’s led to numerous injuries for Buxton, some of which undoubtedly hurt his development and delayed his debut in MLB.
In just over four years of professional baseball, Buxton has missed significant time with a sprained thumb suffered on a head-first slide, in addition to a wrist injury and a concussion suffered on the same outfield collision.*The latter limited him to 31 games in 2014.
Buxton had another scare last season after colliding with the outfield wall at Globe Life Park in Texas.*He was carted off the field, but fortunately only suffered a bruise.
The Twins have grown to expect nothing less than one-hunted percent effort from Byron Buxton. (Getty Images) The Twins obviously want Buxton to use his speed and aggression to keep making plays, but dialing it down a notch wouldn’t be the worst idea. Especially during spring training, when there’s nothing to be gained and the results don’t matter.
The latter is notable in Team USA’s case too, as the lineup struggled to put together a consistent attack against Twins pitching. After Nolan Arenado’s two-run first-inning double, the offense mustered just four more hits. That included wasting a second and third, no outs situation in the ninth inning.
It wasn’t pretty, but Team USA still has one more chance to work out the kinks on Thursday against the Boston Red Sox. From there, it’s on to Marlins Park in Miami for first round action on Friday against Colombia. First pitch is scheduled for 6pm ET.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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