Hicks Buxton: The God Article

Aaron Hicks doing what he does

Byron Buxton just standing there

I recently commented to a friend of mine at work, that it looked like Aaron Hicks might actually be getting the hang of the major league baseball thing. He replied by pointing out that it won't matter too much as the next great thing in the history of great things, Byron Buxton, would soon be in the twin cities to supplant young Hicks in centerfield.

Because my co-worker is wrong, I decided to take a break from my normal evaluations and pen this special piece evaluating the pros and cons of each player, mainly to prove that he's wrong, and I'm right...as usual.


Let's start with Byron Buxton. In the extensive research I conducted preparing for this piece (15 minutes worth of skimming articles I found in a google search) I came to one definitive conclusion. Old fat guys on twitter love them some Byron Buxton (Ok, one old fat guy and a lot of younger less fat guys probably more accurately described as husky, but I'm assuming that one old fat guy is a solid representation of old fat guys everywhere). They speak of him reverentially, and dare to utter his name in the same breath as that of the great fished one, Mike Trout. Buxton, at 19 years of age, was dismantling low A ball to the tune of a .341 average and .559 slugging percentage. He has recently been moved to high A. This is supposedly because his performance warrants it. Based on the stuff I read on bleacher report and other web outlets, I can only assume it's because he ran out of parks to play in at that level because his skill set drives even the most rational observer of baseball into such a frenzy that crowds witnessing his greatness ultimately riot and burn the stadium to the ground.

He has slowed down slightly at high A hitting .298 and slugging .421, but it's a pretty small sample size. This dip could be due to a variety of things. For instance, maybe he felt more inspired as a Cedar Rapids Kernel than he does as a Fort Myers Miracle. Maybe there's a little bit more to distract a 19 year old kid in Southern Florida during the summer than Central Iowa. It's hard sayin'. I'd compare these numbers to Aaron Hicks at the same level, but I won't, even though I currently have a tab open on my browser that would easily allow me to do so. I'm going to say it's pointless, but in reality I'm really that lazy, and I'm fairly certain it wouldn't help my argument here, and there's no room for contradictory evidence when one is trying to construct a consistent narrative.

Knocks on Buxton are that he's got a few problems with his swing. One being that it's pretty level which is going to produce more groundballs and line drives and lower his home run rate. I've read the Twins teach that to their prospects. Somebody should tell them they aren't playing in that shithole called the Metrodome anymore so they won't get the benefit of that turf that makes ground balls do crazy things often times making good defenders look like 8 year old shortstops in a tee-ball game and generally driving any fan of an opposing team crazy. I've also read that he doesn't appear to be quite as fast as he's been given credit for.

Let's move on to young switch-hitting Aaron Hicks. It's weird. In 2012 nobody really expected that he'd be in the majors, let alone starting center field for the Twins, but Denard Span, Ben Revere, and underwhelming spring training competition (along with a ridiculously good spring training by Hicks) put him in the spot he's in today. He put up a .285 average with 13 homeruns and 32 stolen bases in AA last year, yet he'd been roundly considered as something of a bust. Apparently he came in with near Buxtonian expectations and when he failed to meet them people decided they were unhappy with a high batting average, decent power, and 30+ stolen bases. Looking at what the Twins are working with on the major league level, you'd think Minnesota fans would be jumping for joy, but if I've learned anything from Garrison Keelor, it's that Minnesotan's don't get excited about much of anything. Unless, of course, we're talking about Prince. They love Prince.

It's true that, overall, Hicks has put up some less than stellar numbers so far this season. He's been flirting with the Mendoza line and isn't showing a lot in the power department, but since his trip to the DL and short rehab stint earlier this season, Hicks seems to have turned a corner. Since his return he's hitting .275, slugging .500 and has an OPS of .826. He also patrols centerfield like an absolute boss.

Rod Carew: Not fat or on twitter

I can't ignore what is obviously my most compelling argument in the great Hicks Buxton debate. Rod Carew. Hicks worked with Carew in the off-season and Carew seemed to have a pretty good opinion of Hicks as a hitter saying something like, "Aaron Hicks is quite possibly the best hitter of our time. If you unfroze Ted Williams, and showed him Aaron Hicks he'd say 'Let me die now (again, I think?) for I have truly seen god and his name is Aaron Hicks'" (quote cannot actually be attributed to Rod Carew, but while I don't know Mr. Carew, I've read a bit about him and feel pretty confident that he would say something to that effect).  Carew isn't some old fat guy on twitter. He's not fat, I'm fairly confident he doesn't know what twitter is, and he's a career .328 hitter.


What I'm saying is Hicks is a solid natural talent that's probably in about 20 feet over his head right now as his progression was rushed a bit. He's playing really good defense (based solely on web gems I've seen while watching Baseball Tonight as I avoid going to bed because I don't want to get up and go to my job in the morning) and seems to be coming around at the plate. It's true, Buxton is the number one prospect by many accounts, and annihilating single A baseball as a 19 year old, and that can't go unrecognized, but to paraphrase a popular saying a Hicks in the majors is better than a Buxton/might be Trout/might be Brandon Wood looking a horse giver in the mouth in the minors.

To summarize, Hicks has had solid development and production through the minors, and in my expert (haha) opinion is beginning to prove he can play at the highest level. Buxton is the pride of prospect watchers and twitter pundits who could very well be the next Mike Trout. He also has a few years to show us he's not. I'll take Hicks, and if Buxton is as good as they say he is, well I hope he's alright playing a corner outfield position.