The Twins have made several roster moves involving notable young players, per a club announcement (via MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger, on Twitter). Outfielders Byron Buxton and Max Kepler have been optioned back to Triple-A, while righty Alex Meyer has been brought back onto the active roster.
Buxton, still just 22, entered the year once again rated as one of the very best prospects in all of baseball. He struggled in his debut stint in 2015, but hopes were that his bat would catch up to his glove and speed at the major league level. Instead, Buxton has fallen off even further, and owns a .156/.208/.289 slash and 24 strikeouts (with just two walks) over 49 plate appearances.
By sending Buxton down now, Minnesota will give him a chance to regain his footing at Triple-A, where he was successful last year. It also leaves the door open to holding Buxton below one full year of MLB service at the end of 2016. He entered the season with 113 days on his clock, and obviously hasn’t yet accumulated the 59 more days needed to push himself up to 172 days. Needless to say, it’s certainly still possible that Buxton will cross that threshold at some point this year, but that’s no longer a given.
Kepler, meanwhile, was only expected to perform fill-in duty. He skipped the Triple-A level last year, and will head back down to continue his development. Danny Santana has been activated from the 15-day DL, which created the need for another roster spot.
As the Twins temporarily bid adieu to two important young assets, they’ll welcome back another to the big leagues. Meyer, a 26-year-old righty, lost much of his prospect sheen in a rough 2015. But he’s off to a nice start at the highest level of the minors in 2016, having allowed just two earned runs on 11 hits and four walks over 17 1/3 innings, while racking up a healthy 19 strikeouts.
It’s not immediately clear what role Meyer will take when he arrives. He had returned to the rotation this spring, but could certainly be utilized in a setup role for a club that is in need of live arms in the pen. Regardless, it’s time for Meyer to  show the organization that he is capable of performing at the major league level. It’s worth noting, too, that despite entering the year with eight days of MLB service, Meyer won’t be able to tally 172 for the present season even if he stays up the rest of the way.
Maybe the Twins can trade Buxton for a meddling RP. They do have a penchant for squandering young athletic outfielders of color, in the rich tradition of Span-Revere-Hicks…
you forgot about gomez
Or like Puckett, Hunter and Jones. Span was with the team for 5 years, not sure what your complaining about. If anything you proved they know how to develop young athletic outfielders of any color.
call the Tribe(Indians), Buxton would look unbelievable as a Tribe player
Indians might talk SP/RP Bauer
Hicks? Yes, he has played well defensively for the Yankees but he hasn’t produced at the plate. He has no proven mlb track record, so I wouldn’t include him in the same sentence as Revere and Span.
Can’t say I too terribly miss Revere or Hicks, really.
Terry Ryan waited too long for this move. Season is almost over. Few more guys need to be sent down
Yep, Aprils not even over but the season sure is, Not sure why teams bother playing baseball May-October.
If Byron Buxton doesn’t start making more contact, he is forever going to be a ” tools ” guy with limited results. I know SABR geeks think K’s aren’t a big deal, but anybody that knows baseball at all knows you need to put the ball in play. Too many holes in his swing at this point.
agreed. Numbers are nice to look at, but wether they’re good or bad barely reflects a player’s talent. Especially with a guy Luke Buxton, where his numbers say he is good, but honestly hasn’t done much of anything.
You are both spot on re Buxton. I havent seen enough of his ABs to know how ugly the at bats are, but a 30% k rate is borderline intolerable (even with big slg and OPS)… A 50% strikeout rate says the holes in his swing were so big, he was no where near ready (again)…