CHICAGO – The Twins have not established a timetable for Byron Buxton to return to any sort of game action, which suggests that he might need more than a couple of days for his shoulder to fully heal.
While taking daily treatment for his injured shoulder, the sidelined center fielder will remain as active as he can. For instance, he will take part in outfield drills before Friday's game in Detroit.
"We are primarily focused right now on strengthening and stabilizing his shoulder," Twins General Manager Thad Levine said Thursday. "He's clearly disappointed that this didn't progress a little bit faster, but the reality is when we had the initial diagnosis from the doctors, they really put us in the four-ish-week mark, which we're not even quite there yet, so I think we're always trained to believe that these things aren't quite linear, that they always tend to have a little bit of a sidestep somewhere.
"He's experienced a sidestep so we're taking one step back."
Buxton attempted to return from a left shoulder subluxation last weekend during a minor league rehabilitation stint at Class A Cedar Rapids but felt pain in his shoulder while swinging a bat Sunday. Then he felt more pain when he swung before a game Tuesday. That's when the decision was made to scratch him from the game and have him see the Twins' training staff in Chicago.
"We're going to wait and see after the next couple of days, see how he's feeling, then we'll get him back out there," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "We'll probably see him on the field running around a little bit. He'll still be taking part in a bunch of baseball activities that will be going on out here. But as far as any sort of game situations, I don't think we're going to commit to any dates right now."
Once Buxton can swing a bat without pain, he likely will head out to play in minor league games. Cedar Rapids has qualified for the Midwest League playoffs, so he might head back there.
Call-ups coming