Byron Buxton Hits the IL With a Hip Strain and Will Miss the All-Star Game

The Minnesota Twins placed center fielder Byron Buxton on the 10-day injured list with a right hip strain, retroactive to July 6, and the timing could not be worse for fantasy managers or for Buxton himself. He was voted an American League starter for next week's All-Star Game in Philadelphia, and instead of taking the field at Citizens Bank Park, he will spend the break rehabbing. The Twins recalled outfielder Alan Roden in the corresponding move.

This is not a minor blip for a category-anchoring bat. Buxton has been one of the best per-game producers in the sport again in 2026, and losing him even for a two-week window creates a real hole for the managers who spent premium draft capital on him.

What happened

Buxton returned to the lineup Saturday against the Yankees in New York after dealing with hip tightness, then left Sunday's game in the first inning after an awkward slide while trying to steal second base. The Twins moved quickly to shut him down rather than risk a lingering issue turning into a longer absence, which is the prudent play for a 31-year-old with a lengthy injury history who has finally strung together a productive, mostly healthy campaign.

Through 75 games, Buxton was slashing .271/.328/.575 with 25 home runs, 45 RBI, and 57 runs scored, elite power-and-speed production from center field. He remains one of the highest-ceiling players in baseball when upright, and that is exactly why a hip strain matters: the injury attacks the explosiveness that drives his stolen bases and his elite outfield defense.

Fantasy fallout

Start with the obvious: if you roster Buxton, you need to cover center field and stolen bases for at least the next two weeks, and possibly longer if the hip lingers past the minimum. The good news is the All-Star break itself eats several of those days, so the number of actual games missed is smaller than the calendar suggests. A 10-day IL stint that straddles the break can cost as few as five or six lineup slots if he returns on schedule.

The cleaner move for deep leagues is Alan Roden, who steps back into Twins at-bats and offers a contact-oriented profile with a passable on-base skill set. He is not a Buxton replacement in the power or speed categories, but he provides a warm body in a corner or utility spot for managers who are thin. In shallower formats, the better path is to stream a hot bat with a favorable schedule rather than chase Roden's modest ceiling.

The steals hit is the harder one to solve. Buxton is one of a shrinking group of true five-category outfielders, and his absence tightens an already-scarce category. Managers who are chasing steals should prioritize the waiver wire for speed-first profiles now rather than waiting, because everyone in your league is about to be shopping for the same commodity.

The Twins angle and the deadline

Buxton's injury lands at a delicate moment for Minnesota. The Twins have been treading water, and with the August 3 trade deadline approaching, they are widely viewed as a club that could sell around the edges. Catcher Ryan Jeffers is nearing a return from a hamate fracture and has drawn open interest from the Yankees, and Minnesota is the kind of team that could move a pending free agent or two if the standings do not turn in the next three weeks.

Buxton himself is not going anywhere given his no-trade protection and his contract structure, but a diminished, banged-up lineup around him only reinforces the sense that Minnesota is closer to retooling than to buying. For fantasy managers who own Twins hitters, that is a downstream risk worth monitoring: a seller's roster can mean lineup shuffling, reduced RBI environments, and veterans dealt to unfamiliar parks.

The Verdexed model take

Verdexed's model treats a hip strain on a player with Buxton's movement-dependent profile as a yellow flag rather than a green light on return. The base case is a return shortly after the All-Star break, but the distribution of outcomes skews toward a slightly longer absence than the 10-day minimum, and the model discounts his stolen-base projection for the rest of July even after he is activated. Hips are notorious for sapping the first step, and the steals are the first thing to go.

For the Twins as a betting entity, the model nudges Minnesota's team totals down modestly in the games Buxton misses. He is a genuine lineup driver, and replacing 25-homer thump with league-average production measurably lowers the run environment. Bettors eyeing Twins unders in the immediate term have a small edge, particularly against quality arms where the lineup's margin for error is already thin.

What to do in your league

If you can afford the roster spot, stash Buxton on your IL and ride out the break rather than cutting bait. The upside on a healthy return is simply too high to hand him to a competitor for a two-week savings. Cover the games with a streaming bat, prioritize a speed add to hedge the steals loss, and keep Roden in mind only as a last-resort deep-league fill.

The bigger takeaway is patience. Buxton has spent a career fighting the injury bug, and managers who panic-sell every time he tweaks something invariably regret it when he returns and posts a monster week. Treat this as a short-term detour, cover the counting-stat gap, and be ready to slot him back the moment he is activated.