Byron Buxton Explains How He Catches Everything

CLEVELAND — Last week, this author wrote about how Byron Buxton’s glove had improved from good to great in part thanks to Statcast. The post was inspired by a Jared Diamond piece for the Wall Street Journal.

Buxton told Diamond it was player-tracking data that had led him to focus on improving his first step this offseason. Quite possibly as a result, Buxton has transformed from merely a speedy outfielder to the best outfield defender in the game, according to Outs Above Average (24). He’s the top center fielder in the game, according to Defensive Runs Saved (26).

You'd better believe that's a ????? catch for @OfficialBuck103!@Twins CF covers 56 ft in 3.6 seconds to convert a 24% catch probability. pic.twitter.com/QsvbqdyLcu

— #Statcast (@statcast) September 27, 2017

Pretty explosive first step, eh?

The Buxton chart makes its return. Still relevant. pic.twitter.com/pRS2YeJQKn

— Alex Hooper (@lexhooper) September 27, 2017

Byron Buxton is EVERYTHING.

(Yeah, that's five stars.) pic.twitter.com/RHUMtpqaXs

— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) September 27, 2017

I was curious to learn more about how Buxton’s attempt to improve his first-step quickness and initial track to balls. Moreover, some readers had doubts after reading last week’s post about whether a defender could improve elements of his defensive play like first-step quickness. Thankfully, the Twins are in Cleveland this week hoping to whittle their magic number down to zero. So before a Twins hitters’ meeting Tuesday at Progressive Field, Buxton granted me an audience before his locker in the visiting clubhouse.

Buxton said it was about a year and a half ago that Twins officials approached him with Statcast data to illustrate how he might better take advantage of his athletic gifts to save runs. Most players, of course, are likely to embrace the advice of coaching staff; the addition of cold, hard, unfeeling data, though, makes that advice even more persuasive.

So last offseason, when Buxton returned to his native Baxley, Ga., he also regularly visited his alma mater, Appling County High. He went to work with his old high-school track coach, Sheldon Pearce, with the goal of improving his first-step quickness. Is this something you can improve? Without a doubt, Buxton believes.

“I knew [improving] my first step was the biggest thing for me,” Buxton told FanGraphs. “I just went back home and found some things that could help me out doing that.”

Pearce had Buxton go through a number of drills to increase his initial explosiveness, including one particularly intensive practice Buxton explained in detail. Buxton said he began the drill by laying on his back on the red rubberized surface of his old high-school track. Pearce barked out whether he should spring into a running stance either to his right to left. But there was a catch.

“I can only use three fingers [to get up from the ground], so I had to use my legs to get up. It was pretty intense,” Buxton told FanGraphs. “If I had to roll right, I used three fingers to get up. After I use those three fingers to get up, [the opposite arm] arm goes straight back into running position. Then I go.

“My track coach, he has always talked about the first step being quick and explosive. I could improve and be a little bit better… He helped me get it quicker and more explosive. I found some techniques to help me out.”

Apparently so.

Again and again he worked on that drill and others. The effect: to allow one of the game’s premier athletes to become even more explosive on his initial movement after a ball.

Buxton said another area in which he endeavored to improve was his path to balls hit directly over his head — particularly on what he calls his “drop step,” the first movement back on such a route.

This spring, on the backfields of the Twins’ Fort Myers, Fla., complex, Buxton engaged in hundreds of reps with Twins coaches, tracking ball after ball over his head. The goal: for Buxton to become more accurate, quicker, in his initial diagnosis of batted balls. It’s the most difficult play for a center fielder.

“It was more footwork than anything else,” Buxton said. “Getting my first step quicker. Getting my drop step a little quicker, more accurate, toward making those tough plays.”

Progress anyone?

The improvement of Buxton’s first-step quickness might also be showing up on the base paths: he set a Twins record on Tuesday night by stealing his 23rd consecutive base without being caught.

Twins manager Paul Molitor said the defensive metrics tells the story of an athlete maturing, understanding that his gifts alone cannot carry him, of remaining open to coaching and data.

“As athletic as he is — and he is upper-echelon elite in terms of athletes in our sport — we found some things we felt would improve him in terms of reaction, first step, angles,” Moltior said. “It’s gotten better. Things that show up in the metrics, the numbers, all those things are improved because, I think, he realized he couldn’t just rely on [athleticism].”

We’ve seen Statcast tools help inform hitters on how to improve swings and approaches. Buxton says it can also help defensive play. And Buxton’s testimony is important as he has emerged as the top outfield defender in the game this season, and he is a significant reason why the Twins have enjoyed a defensive turnaround (-46 DRS in 2016 to +11 this season). Buxton and his glove are reasons the Twins are on the cusp of a postseason appearance.