The hot and cold of Byron Buxton and how it impacts the Twins

The boom and bust nature of Byron Buxton features more bust than boom.

He hits it. He hits it not. He hits it. He hits it not. So goes the way of Byron Buxton, the Minnesota Twins' most enigmatic player. 

After his 0-for-4 performance Saturday night in Oakland, Buxton has just one hit in his last 22 at-bats and his batting average for the season lurks just above the Mendoza Line at .202. The best way to define Buxton is a player who is consistently streaky. 

When he's rolling, his bat is as dangerous as any bat in the game. But he's rarely rolling, and this year is another example of how low he goes when he's not swinging a good stick. 

Buxton's 2023 can be clearly broken down through 10 segments. The interesting result of this study is that the Twins are 25-14 during Buxton's "hot" streaks and 14-22 when he's ice cold. Here's the breakdown... 

Segment 1: Hot: 13-for-43 in 11 games

The first segment was the first 11 games of the season when he had 13 hits in 43 at-bats for a quality .302 batting average. He only had two homers and five RBIs in that segment, but he was getting hits and scored 10 runs. 

Twins went 8-3 in this stretch. 

Segment 2: Cold: 0-for-15 in five games

His bat went completely silent for five consecutive games, four of them against the New York Yankees. It was so bad that he struck out 11 times in 15 at-bats. 

Sure, he's produced a little bit of late with a bases loaded walk and a couple of sacrifice flies, not to mention some hard hit balls for outs, but the best way to define his 2023 season is with one word: streaky. 

Twins went 2-3 in this stretch. 

Segment 3: Hot: 15-for-49 in 13 games

He produced a .306 batting average in a stretch of games that featured three games each against the lowly Royals, White Sox and Nationals. He had a whopping six homers and 13 RBIs in this stretch from April 19 to May 4. 

Twins went 8-5 in this stretch. 

Segment 4: Cold: 0-for-23 in 7 games

As hot as he was for two weeks, he went ice cold the following week and had zero hits while watching his batting average plummet from .262 to .215. 

Twins went 3-4 in this stretch. 

Segment 5: Hot: 8-for-23 in 6 games

Another boom segment as he had three straight games with two hits. This, if you're recall, is when Buxton touted how "nasty" and "dangerous" the Twins lineup is. They haven't lived up to that lofty claim since. 

Twins went 3-3 in this stretch. 

Segment 6: Cold: 4-for-45 in 13 games

Another agonizingly long slump that saw him hit .089 for two weeks, resulting in his batting average dropping from .235 on May 21 to .202 on June 19. The worst part about this stretch is that he went 1-for-34 in the final 10 games of this 13-game segment. 

Twins went 4-9 in this stretch. 

Segment 7: Hot: 5-for-11 in 3 games

It was a short but sweet surge as Buxton hit three home runs in three days against the Red Sox. 

Twins went 2-1 in this stretch. 

Segment 8: Cold: 0-for-14 in 5 games

Three hot games were followed by five hitless performances, including zero walks and six strikeouts. 

Twins went 2-3 in this stretch. 

Segment 9: Hot: 8-for-22 in 6 games

Buxton slugged a pair of homers, had six RBIs and scored six runs in this nifty little stretch. 

Twins went 4-2 in this stretch. 

Segment 10: Cold: 1-for-22 in 6 games

Still batting in the heart of the order, Buxton's last six games have resulted in one hits and 10 strikeouts. The only good has been an RBI sacrifice fly on Friday night and an RBI walk on Saturday night. 

Twins went 3-3 in this stretch. 

What's next?

The previous results suggest that Buxton will have another hot streak as soon as his current cold streak ends. What the Twins need more than anything is a Buxton hot streak that lasts longer than a few days or a week. He hasn't had a hot streak last longer than six games since early May.