In his first game playing centerfield for Minnesota Twins Double-A affiliate New Britain, Byron Buxton was involved in an outfield collision that knocked him unconscious for 10 minutes, delaying the game for more than a half hour.
Buxton is ranked the No.2 prospect in Major League Baseball and had dominated in Class-A Fort Myers last year with a .326 batting average and 23 stolen bases in 57 games. He's been having a tough time this year, though, batting only .240 with 19 runs scored in 30 games before the Twins promoted him Monday to Double-A.
He was already 0-for-3 on the night with three strikeouts, but in the fifth inning it got worse for Buxton. He was chasing down a fly ball and violently collided with right fielder Mike Kvasnicka, who caught the ball and laid there writhing in pain. Buxton was knocked out and was taken off the field in an ambulance to be brought to a nearby hospital. Fortunately for the 20-year-old, the CT scan came back negative, and the doctors found no broken bones.
He was diagnosed with a concussion and will undergo normal procedures for concussion symptoms before returning to the field. Check out the video below courtesy of MiLB.TV.
Despite Buxton's bad news, the San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs are seeing good things out of the prospects they recently recalled. In only his third game with the Padres after being called up on Sunday, outfielder Rymer Liriano hit his first major league home run on Wednesday night against the Colorado Rockies. Liriano's two-run homer ended up being the difference maker in the Padres 5-3 victory. In three games, he's 2-for-9 with a home run, three RBI and a walk.
The Rockies must have a knack for giving up home runs to recently promoted prospects, because in his major league debut, Chicago Cubs second baseman Javier Baez hit his first home run on Aug. 5 against Colorado, the game-winner in a 6-5 extra-inning victory. Baez hit another home run (his first at Wrigley Field) on Wednesday night against the Milwaukee Brewers to help seal the 4-2 victory. The 22-year-old is batting .268 with four home runs and seven RBI in nine major league games.
