Reusse: Byron Buxton is back in the field and using his speed to torment defenses, but for how long?

The Twins conceded to Byron Buxton’s myriad injuries entering the 2023 season and decided the way to keep him in the lineup was for him to serve as the designated hitter. The production wasn’t up to the standard a successful team looked for in a DH, and there were cries from the public and select media to return Buxton to center field.

Then and now, manager Rocco Baldelli is charged with offering pregame and postgame media sessions. That meant he had the duty of batting away these Buxton suggestions more frequently than anyone associated with the team.

Publicly, the word was that Buxton was not yet ready to play in the field, due to a surgically repaired knee and other issues. Privately, the Twins were suggesting that DH-ing was Buxton’s present and future as a ballplayer.

There were moments when Baldelli had it up to his eyebrows with the Buxton question and would get snappish with his response. In late June of that year, when asked again, the manager said: “If he could be playing in the field, he would be playing in the field. Physically, he cannot play in the field.”

Buxton made it to Aug. 1 before suffering a right hamstring strain. Then, there was a setback with his bad knee, and he was not in the lineup again that season.

Unhappily for Buxton and his admirers, this was not exactly a blow to the Twins’ hitting attack. Buxton was batting .207, he had a .294 on-base percentage, and there were 109 strikeouts in 347 plate appearances.

Strong pitching carried the Twins to an AL Central title at 87-75, and there was enough hitting to also allow the team to end its 18-year drought without a postseason victory.

What would become of Buxton now? There were reports of more surgical work on his knee, including a “plica excision.”

Those of us who knew, covered and chuckled frequently at original Twins owner Calvin Griffith could only imagine orthopedic original Dr. Harvey O’Phelan going to the boss and saying, “We’re thinking maybe what Tony Oliva needs is a plica excision.”

Calvin: “Plica Excision, who does he play for?”

The online description is that it’s a minimally invasive surgical procedure to remove inflamed tissue in the knee. There had to be more to it than that, but when Buxton arrived at spring training in 2024, it was with the idea that he would return to center field.

The Twins went easy with him in spring training. He returned to center and played frequently. There was an injured list stay in May, but there were moments when the amazing speed — base running, covering the gaps — was there again to thrill.

This passage was offered in the Minnesota Star Tribune in early July:

“Today, and for a few weeks now, we have seen the long-hoped-for Buxton. ... He didn’t hit much to start, and he was shut down for two weeks at the start of May.

“Might happen again if the knee flares, but he’s now hitting .282 and getting extra-base hits, and that’s not even what challenges the pessimistic ideas about Buxton’s future …

“Watching TV the other night: A run was scoring from third as a base hit was being fielded, and in the background — going around second, heading for third — was Buxton eating up the 90 feet in about 10 wondrous strides.

“Buck’s back, maybe not forever, maybe not for tomorrow, but let’s savor those wheels. Because, whether used in the gaps or on the bases, they are unmatched in 64 seasons of Twins baseball.”

He did not make it through the end of the schedule, of course, but he was able to work out all winter, and he came to spring training this time as a full participant. It’s been a week, seven games, but he’s been in the lineup, and he has been dashing.

And this was eye-catching: Two years ago, the Twins’ opinion was Buxton was incapable physically of playing in the field. On Wednesday in Chicago, there was a 3½-hour rain delay, it was wet and cold, and Buxton remained in the lineup.

Your thoughts, manager Baldelli?

“Buck is built to play. Right now, he feels great. He had a great offseason. He had a great spring training. The telltale signs were there from the start. He’s out there on Day One in spring playing. He was expected to be out there just like everyone else.

“He was prepared. There’s the physical part, but there’s also the mental part. He’s being one of the guys again; he’s a star who considers himself one of the guys. He always has been like that.

“He’s a team-first player above anything personal. To be able to take the field with his teammates, and go out there and compete with them every day, is really what he is aiming for beyond all else.”

The home run in the cold Wednesday in Chicago … not much drama as to whether it would get out?

“That’s the way he hits them,” Baldelli said. ”Some guys hit homers and they kind of loft the ball. When he hits many of his homers, there’s a moment when everyone in the park pauses to appreciate it. That’s the major league homer of the kind that most of us saw in our dreams."

Buck’s back. For how long, who knows? But he’s 31 and going full out. And he said this after Thursday’s 5-2 loss in the home opener in which his speed gave the Astros infielders no chance on two infield hits:

“It’s good to be healthy. I have the peace of mind to go out there and play the game.‘’