Byron Buxton becomes the Twins’ latest injured list addition

MILWAUKEE Twins manager Rocco Baldelli was plainspoken with no real note of optimism in his voice when he spoke about injured outfielder Byron Buxton prior to Saturday s contest saying that like all players dealing with a likely concussion they were taking things slowly deliberately Before batting practice had ended at American Family Field any lingering optimism had been replaced by the harsh reality of the current Twins injury assessment to which Buxton was officially added on Saturday afternoon After colliding with infielder Carlos Correa during a win in Baltimore last week Buxton has now been added to the seven-day injury list Correa went on that same list a day earlier As is the nature of dealing with concussions which can impact a athlete for a number of days to a number of years depending on the severity Baldelli declared the unit is taking its time and doing things by the book You ve just got to be very thoughtful and aware and there s a reason why this is the type of injury that we have these types of protocols for and multiple a great number of moves and clearances that you have to go through he stated Cause there s not an easy way to either diagnose and treat and monitor You have to be thoughtful Concussions are not a new thing for Buxton who has dealt with injuries throughout his career He had appeared in all but three of Minnesota s games prior to the collision with Correa batting with home runs RBI and eight stolen bases With the Twins winning despite the injuries other players have talked about the roster being filled with players willing to do whatever is needed in desperate times I think for us it s clich as it sounds like it s just next man up reported infielder Ty France who missed a match last week after fouling a ball off his foot Losing those key pieces to your association it hurts but every single guy in here prepares as if they re the main guy on this band So they fill right in France noted the Friday night major league debut of -year-old infielder Ryan Fitzgerald who made the five-hour drive to Milwaukee from Des Moines where he had been playing with the St Paul Saints to fill in at second base after the injuries to Correa and Willi Castro Fitzy makes his debut and looks like he s been here forever so that s one good thing about this group France commented This clubhouse you know we re here for each other we re here to pick each other up and we ve done a great job of that Castro taking certain time Castro initially stayed in the match to play left field after he fouled a ball hard off his right knee in the first inning on Friday But he left the lineup shortly thereafter allowing Fitzgerald to play in The Show for the first time In the clubhouse before Saturday s encounter Castro explained the pain was intense straightaway I felt in the moment when I got I hit I was very painful for a couple seconds he stated But I got back up and was feeling fine Then when I went back to play defense that s when it started getting tight and getting swollen When I got back to the dugout that s when it started feeling a little funky and that s when they decided to take me out Taking Saturday s encounter off both Castro and Baldelli commented they do not expect the injury to keep him out of the lineup for too long and he could be available on an emergency basis if the Twins were to deal with additional injuries I don t think he s going to be out there running around if someone got hurt in the second inning I don t think Willi is going into the tournament to finish the battle Baldelli mentioned But if other things happen in the competition and he s forced into being on his feet that might have to be an option We re already short a participant Castro is batting with two home runs and six RBI in at-bats this season Related Articles A dozen the hard way as Twins blank Brewers Carlos Correa placed on -day injured list following collision Twins extend winning streak to by finishing another sweep of Orioles Twins stars Carlos Correa Byron Buxton collide in concussion protocol Twins sweep Baltimore running winning streak to