Byron Buxton is looking forward to participating in next week’s Home Run Derby, calling it a “once in a lifetime” opportunity, particularly the event is being held in Atlanta, just hours away from his hometown of Baxley, Georgia.

But it seems nobody is more excited about the center fielder’s inclusion in the derby field than his 11-year-old son, Brixton.

“He always is like, ‘Dad, if you do this, I want to bring you a towel!’ And I’m like, ‘All right.’ That’s all he cares about,” Buxton said of his oldest son. “He wants dad to do it so he can bring me a towel and a Gatorade and for me, that’s special. Out of everybody that’s there, all the people that he’s going to see, that’s what he wants and cares about, so it’s the small things that add up to the big ones.”

Buxton announced his plans to compete in next Monday’s Home Run Derby on his Instagram account a day after he was named the Twins’ lone representative in the All-Star Game. It will be his second Midsummer Classic but the first time he’s participated in the derby.

For Buxton, who has already hit 20 home runs this season, the decision to participate was made after talking it over with those around him.

“When you’re healthy and you have the opportunities that come across to be able to do some things like this, you don’t tend to pass them up,” he said.

Buxton will be the first Twin to participate in the event since his former teammate, Miguel Sanó, did so in 2017. Just one Twin, Justin Morneau, has ever won the competition, edging out Josh Hamilton in 2008 in a derby that is best remembered for Hamilton’s record-setting first round.

He joins a field of eight players that so far includes Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr., Washington Nationals outfielder James Wood and Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh, currently Major League Baseball’s home run leader with 35 of them.

In the first round, all entrants will compete against a clock and each other to hit the most home runs with the top four advancing to the semifinals. From there, players will be seeded by their first-round performance with No. 1 facing No. 4 and No. 2 competing against No. 3. The first two rounds last three minutes per batter and the final round is two minutes long with a maximum number of pitches that a hitter can receive.

“It’s just one of those things where, going back home to do something like this is a once in a lifetime thing,” Buxton said. “I know I’m not going to play 30 more years for (the All-Star Game) to get back to Atlanta, so it’s that once in a lifetime opportunity that, I talked about it with some close people, guys on the team, friends, family, and everybody got excited. It’s just one of those things where, they didn’t want me to pass up the opportunity.”

Related Articles

Twins’ Byron Buxton named to All-Star Game in home state of Georgia

Twins come back twice but fall to Rays in series finale

Twins ride bullpen in win over Rays

Brooks Lee gives Twins a walk-off win for second straight day

Charley Walters: The year Paul Molitor coached Ichiro Suzuki