Mike Trout, Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani might have something to say about this, but if you ask former big-leaguer Bill Ripken who the most talented player in baseball is, he'll tell you it's Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins.
Ripken, the brother of Hall of Fame shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. who played 12 years in the majors, said on MLB Network Tuesday morning that there is literally nothing (besides pitching, presumably) that anyone in the game can do better than a healthy Buxton.
"There's nothing on a baseball field, like a specific thing that a baseball player can do, that he can't do as well as anybody in the game," Ripken said. "Think about when he jumps into one and hits a homer. He hits a ball as hard and as far as anybody. He hits a ball in the right-center gap and he runs a triple. He will run that triple as fast or faster than anybody in the game. When he's playing center field and the ball's hit in the gap, he will go get it point A to point B as well as anybody in the game. There's nothing on the baseball field that anybody individually can do better than him."
As Ripken alluded, Buxton, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2012 MLB Draft, hasn't been able to stay healthy. A bad knee limited him to DH duties last season and a myriad of injuries have cut short his campaigns pretty much every year since he made his debut in 2015.
- 2015: sprained thumb
- 2016: knee and back problems
- 2017: migraines and groin strain (played 140 games)
- 2018: migraines, wrist injury, broken toe
- 2019: concussion, wrist and shoulder injuries
- 2020: sprained foot, concussion
- 2021: hamstring and hip issues, broken hand
- 2022: hip and knee injuries
- 2023: hamstring and knee injuries
The player Ripken is talking about is the version of Buxton that he and others saw dominate in 2021, when in just 61 games he slashed .306/.358/.647 (1.005 OPS) with 19 homers and 23 doubles.
"The fact that we have not seen him play that many games, that's the problem," Ripken continued. "Because if that dude can go out there and play 150 games, he's dead smack in the middle of MVP conversation. All year long."
The hype over Buxton appears to be a result of the 30-year-old telling media that he's feeling pain-free for the first time in years. If he can stay that way, big things could be coming for him and the Twins.
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