Imagine telling Byron Buxton in 2023 that just two years later, he’d be wrapping up his season with an OPS pushing .900, and more than 100 games played for the second consecutive season.

Maybe he wouldn’t be surprised, but we all probably should be.

On Wednesday night against the New York Yankees, Buxton stepped up to the plate for the 502nd time this season, triggering a $500,000 bonus. With about 30 more, he’ll get another half of a million on top of that. These were bonuses that seemed like wishful thinking at the time he signed his extension, and they seemed like a pipe dream when he only played 85 games as a designated hitter in 2023.

With as many ailments to his lower half as he’s had to trudge through, in addition to being north of 30 years old, this type of performance felt like a bygone memory for most who have been paying attention. But here he is, the face of his franchise, on the cusp of receiving a sizable amount of down-ballot MVP votes even in a lost season for his ball club.

So, besides most of the supporting cast around him, what’s changed for Buck? Is his improved health really the only factor that has transformed him from a hobbling designated hitter into the shining star he is today?

While his physical condition is a major reason for his resurgence, Buxton has also been playing with the wisdom and evolution of a veteran player.

As we all remember, Buxton spent virtually all 85 of his games played in 2023 as the designated hitter. His knees were more decrepit than the brakes on a 1979 Ford Pinto, and they affected his all-around game considerably.

Still, he was able to turn on the motors when he needed to, as he posted elite sprint speed (29.3 feet per second, 94th percentile in all of baseball). The issue came when he would have to slow down and stop. So, in an effort to limit those instances, the club decided pretty much from the get-go that they would relegate him to a bat-only player for the year.

However, he was only able to muster a .207/.294/.438 clip, which was just under league-average production, and in a far more limited role.

Since the end of that season? Well, the two-time All Star has a fantastic and remarkably consistent .274/.334/.540 line across 117 games played.

The slugger’s biggest jump in production has been, well, his incredible slugging ability. He has the 6th-highest slugging percentage in that span, placing himself alongside elite company, such as Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, and Juan Soto (and, for some reason, Kerry Carpenter). According to our friends at Inside Edge, that includes the seventh-best slugging against fastballs and the eighth-best against breaking pitches (up nearly 200 points from 2023).

Buxton has transformed himself from a hobbling, yet somehow still speedy, slap hitter with in-game power that never quite matched his raw potential, into an all-world caliber power threat with few discernible weaknesses at the plate. He’s done that with a more mature pitch recognition and a clearer idea of what he’s trying to do with each at-bat.

Even more, he’s turned into an absolute monster in areas where he should theoretically have the advantage when those situations mysteriously held him back two years ago.

Buxton, for whatever reason, had a tremendous amount of trouble against left-handed pitching in 2023, when he had a putrid .627 OPS and a 32% strikeout rate. But since the end of that season, he has the 8th-best production against southpaws in all of baseball (.962 OPS, an unprecedented, nearly 350-point swing).

Buxton’s power stroke and his ability to hit lefties have shifted tremendously in two years, and so has the supporting cast around him. If you were to go back in time and tell the 2023 version of Buck about the incredible success he was having in 2025, he’d surely ask about the rest of the team and if they were winning together. After all, they had just broken the dreaded playoff losing streak and made some noise in the ALDS against the Houston Astros.

Unfortunately, a lot can happen in two years. A star can rediscover his game and stay relatively healthy for the longest prolonged stretch of his career. Still, a team can also crumble around an unstable core and limited financial resources from ownership.

The Buxton of 2023 would probably be disheartened to hear how everything shook out while he was playing the best ball of his life. And frankly, so should we.