Buxton diagnosed with right hip impingement, taking a few days' rest

HOUSTON -- Byron Buxton always wants to play, but after his right hip didn’t feel right over the weekend, he knew that the best decision might not be the one he wanted. So he had a conversation with manager Derek Shelton and head athletic trainer Nick Paparesta and underwent an MRI to figure out what’s going on.

Now, he knows. Buxton has been diagnosed with an impingement in the hip, and while he’s likely to sit out at least another couple of days beyond Tuesday's game against the Astros, he’s not headed to the injured list at this time. All things considered, it's not ideal, but it could absolutely be worse.

“It's something we've been managing for a little while,” Buxton said. “It was a little bit more than normal. It was one of those times where I'm not trying to be a hero.”

It’s a recurrence of discomfort that sidelined him for a few days in May. However, while running -- specifically stopping -- was the biggest issue for him then, Buxton said that his swing didn’t feel quite right over the weekend.

“Sunday, I was missing some pitches I normally do damage with,” he said. “I just wasn't rotating through the body. I think that's just my body protecting itself from me pulling a lat or whatever the situation could have been. My body was protecting that and just listening to my body.”

Buxton’s situation is very much day to day, but it seems unlikely he will play before the weekend in New York. The Twins finish their series in Houston on Wednesday, followed by an off-day. They’re not going to push him, preferring to take an extra day or two rather than risk a longer-term problem with their best player.

“We have off-days,” said manager Derek Shelton, “and will probably make the best decision moving forward of what we feel the best course of action for Byron is and probably have a conversation with him at some point today. Maybe even another tomorrow and then go from there.”

Buxton feels a responsibility not only to look out for his own health, but to set an example for his teammates by not making unnecessarily risky decisions. It also puts his mind at ease when he sees his teammates come through in his absence.

“As a leader, [it's] just to make sure I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing right so that it [doesn’t] become something way worse,” he said.