FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Byron Buxton already looks comfortable enough at the plate that he doesn't even need his best swing to completely change the game.
The Twins' newly extended center fielder was a little early on offering at a changeup on the outside corner by Pittsburgh left-hander Dillon Peters, but he still managed to reach out and yank the pitch an estimated 344 feet out to left-center field for a grand slam that sealed the Twins' 9-4 victory on Wednesday at Hammond Stadium.
"It’s been a theme with him," manager Rocco Baldelli said. "He can hit some different pitches, really, that sometimes most players would try to not swing at some of those pitches. But he can get the barrel to some pretty interesting spots."
Buxton now leads the Twins in hits (eight), doubles (three), homers (two) and RBIs (seven) in Grapefruit League play, and if he can keep making that kind of contact on those kinds of swings into the regular season, watch out.
Buxton's huge breakout in 2021 was predicated on the ability to do massive damage on fastballs, as he slugged .742 on heaters, with 14 of his 19 homers coming against those pitches. He does have a small track record of similarly impacting breaking balls from '20, when he slugged .844 on breakers, but he's still been a fastball hitter for much of his career.
But seemingly every year, Buxton has found a way to get even more settled in at the plate and look more comfortable with his short, compact swing -- and that's when his natural talents can really kick in.
"He has enough strength where it doesn’t have to be his 'A' swing to get the ball out of the ballpark," Baldelli said. "Even though he was a tick out front, he still found the barrel, and it’s impressive. I mean, it’s an impressive adjustment, but the kind of thing you have to do on certain types of offspeed pitches if you’re going to do some damage on them. He’s finding ways to do that."
Archer throws first side session
Chris Archer looked in the mirror before he exited the clubhouse and admired how the Twins' uniform looked on him. After that, he couldn't help but feel good as he tossed 15-20 pitches in a light side session ahead of his upcoming first Grapefruit League start for the Twins, possibly Friday.
"I love the way that I look in the Twins uniform, too, so everything felt great," he said.
Archer just needed to stretch out the arm a bit after not having seen the mound for several days due to his travel from Arizona to Florida, the physical to finalize his free-agent deal with the Twins and the club's off-day on Monday.
He's enjoying the discussions he's already had with pitching coach Wes Johnson about mentality, biomechanics and game planning, and as he continues to develop that relationship, he'll understand what will be most valuable to help him put behind several injury-ridden seasons and search for the form that made him a two-time All-Star early in his career with the Rays.
"I don’t really get into the data that much," Archer said. "If I’m getting bad swings from the hitters or swing-and-miss, those are the things I’m trying to do. I allow the analytics department -- if something is drastically different, good or bad, they come to me with it."
Archer's slider has always played well, and as he has shifted in profile throughout his career -- sometimes using the two-seamer, sometimes not (he very much won't with Minnesota, he emphasized) -- the Twins will continue to feel out what his path to success will look like and how much that will involve the changeup, Baldelli said.