Buxton makes All-Star team after eight-year wait

MINNEAPOLIS -- Byron Buxton faced his teammates in the visitors' clubhouse at Globe Life Field in Texas, the makings of a smile on his face after his manager called his name and handed him a bottle of champagne -- his commemorative gift for being voted onto his first All-Star team by his peers around the league. He'll also get the honor of starting in center for the AL with Mike Trout injured.

For someone carrying all that talent and the weight of a fan base's lofty expectations, eight years was an awfully long time for Buxton to wait before he finally received this recognition. He's had the skill all along -- and at last, hard work, luck and results had finally come together to afford Buxton a place on the national stage among the brightest stars of the sport.

• MLB All-Star Game presented by Mastercard: Tuesday on FOX

"Took a long time for me to get to this spot, but I wouldn't be here without you guys supporting me throughout this first half," Buxton said to his teammates.

He's ready to bask in the environment of Los Angeles and enjoy the fruits of his labor with his family at his side, which he described as "a dream come true." He was excited for his sons, Brixton and Blaze, to join him on the field as he watches the T-Mobile Home Run Derby with teammate and fellow first-time All-Star Luis Arraez also at his side.

This experience will be a product of the fact that, for the first time since 2017, Buxton has stayed on the field for the entire first half of the season. It's taken him and the Twins a lot of work to ensure that he's been able to avoid the injured list, which has helped him already set a new career high with 23 homers and appear in his most games since 2019.

Is this all he needed to become an All-Star -- a first half without an IL stint?

"Probably so," Buxton said. "Haven't been healthy the first half, probably, the first how many years for me. So for me, it's all about the ability to stay on the field. I know what I'm capable of doing. Just staying on the field is the biggest situation."

That doesn't necessarily mean that he has stayed healthy. Far from it, in fact.

The patellar tendinitis in Buxton's right knee hasn't gotten much better since the start of the season, and it's something that occupies much of Buxton's and the Twins' attention, whether in the pregame work that goes into getting him ready for games on days when he can barely walk pregame, or the carefully choreographed dance between center field and designated hitter that limits the stress on the knee.

It hasn't been easy -- but the group effort, something manager Rocco Baldelli describes as a "strenuous, truly 24-hour-a-day job," has gotten Buxton and the Twins here.

"We’re glad he’s been out there and playing for us as much as he has while going through the things he’s been going through," Baldelli said. "Because in most realities, he’s not playing this first half for big chunks of time. And we found a way to make it happen, and had a relatively successful first half. We have a long way to go, though."

There's a long way to go because there's no indication that this will get much better until Buxton gets an extended break during the offseason, and the Twins will need him in their stretch run as they look to hold off the White Sox and Guardians for their third division title in four years. The job is only half-done -- and those second-half games matter that much more.

They can deal with that at the end of the week, when games resume. For now, though it's only a step on the journey, it's a meaningful one for Buxton, who has endured more than his share in years past -- and this year -- to get here. He's put in the work and persevered through his share of bad luck. For a few days, he'll get a chance to enjoy this payoff.

"There are a lot of ways that this could have played out over the course of his career, where he’s made several All-Star Games already," Baldelli said.

"The fact that it did come together this year for him, you can tell how much it means to him. He’s not just a good player; he’s a great player. He’s going to have many more to come. But getting the first one this year, and under these circumstances, is very special to him."