This is all anyone ever wanted from Byron Buxton.
He's healthy, and he's thriving, and it's a beautiful thing.
Buxton reached an awesome personal milestone in the first inning Sunday, when he launched a home run.
It was his 29th of the season, a new career-best for a single season.
Buxton is also on fire. He has homered four times in his last four games.
No one has ever questioned Buxton's talent. He was the No. 2 overall pick in 2012 out of a high school in Georgia.
He spent multiple minor league seasons as the top prospect in all of baseball.
The one thing no one could anticipate was that Buxton would get hurt, and hurt, and hurt again.
He played 140 games in 2017, a year in which he hit 16 homers and stole 29-of-30 bases.
But aside from that season, he never reached 100 games in an MLB campaign until 2024, when he played in 102 games and hit 18 homers.
This season, Buxton is in his 103rd game on Sunday. He has 15 doubles, four triples, 29 homers, 68 RBI and a perfect 21-for-21 on stolen base attempts. He's got a .270 batting average and an .874 OPS.
Buxton, 31 years old, is finally having a career year over an extended healthy stretch.
His previous career-high of 28 homers came in just 92 games in 2022.
Baseball Reference has a cool tool in which it shows a player's 162-game average for a player. Buxton has never played a full season, so it helps indicate how good his numbers translate to a full campaign.
Buxton's career numbers put into a 162-game average work out to 32 doubles, 30 homers, 21 steals and a .792 OPS. To go with his great centerfield defense he has provided for much of his career, it's a great package.
And no, we may never see Buxton get close to that games total, but that's OK. At least this season, he's shown the whole baseball world what he's made of.
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