Since arriving in Minnesota in 1961, the Twins have strung together a chain of star-caliber players who were also stewards of the franchise. From Hall of Fame bats to dominant arms and homegrown stars that defined entire eras of baseball in the Upper Midwest, the organization has never lacked for greatness. The franchise has seen MVP winners, Cy Young winners, and World Series champions come through its clubhouse over the last six decades. Indeed, they’ve hardly ever been without that kind of presence, somewhere in the clubhouse.
Cracking the list of the best players to wear a Twins uniform isn’t about having a great season or even a great peak. It requires sustained excellence over several years, and the ability to stack value in a way that holds up against legends. That’s the standard by which Byron Buxton can now begin to measure himself.
Buxton has always been obviously talented—as much so as any player they’ve ever had. The question has never really been about his peak. It’s been about how much he can add to his career totals before the clock runs out.
Right now, FanGraphs ranks Buxton as the ninth-best hitter in franchise history, with 26.9 fWAR. The complication for Buxton is that five pitchers also rank ahead of him in overall Twins history. With a similar output to last season, he’ll surpass Dave Goltz at 27.0 fWAR and has an outside chance to move past Johan Santana at 31.7 fWAR. He’s not going to catch the top two arms on that list, Bert Blyleven and Jim Kaat, who accumulated over 50 fWAR.
On the hitting side, the climb is just as steep. The only player Buxton could realistically pass in 2026 is Bob Allison, who sits at 31.0 fWAR. Ahead of him are Chuck Knoblauch (33.6 fWAR), Kent Hrbek (37.6), and Tony Oliva (40.7). Buxton produced 5.0 fWAR last season, and maintaining that pace would put Oliva within reach over the next three seasons under contract. That would place Buxton among the top five hitters in Twins history, with Rod Carew, Harmon Killebrew, Kirby Puckett, and Joe Mauer. Alas, normal age-related decline suggests Hrbek may ultimately represent the most realistic ceiling—and, of course, there’s a chance he’s traded before the contract ends.
Baseball Reference tells a similar story, even if the exact math changes. Buxton enters this season with 29.8 rWAR and trails a list of franchise icons that includes Carew, Killebrew, Mauer, Puckett, Radke, Oliva, Hrbek, Knoblauch, Santana, Kaat, and Allison. After posting 4.9 rWAR in arguably the best season of his career, Buxton has a chance to catch Allison (34.1 rWAR) as soon as this year. Multiple strong seasons would be needed to make up ground on Knoblauch (38.0 rWAR) and Hrbek (38.6 rWAR), with an outside shot at Oliva (43.1 rWAR) before his current deal expires.
What makes Buxton’s case so fascinating is how little he has actually played, relative to the players around him. He has appeared in just 898 career games for Minnesota. Every hitter ahead of him in these rankings logged at least 1,000 games with the Twins. Knoblauch is the closest, at 1,031 games, followed by Allison at 1,236. Everyone else ahead of Buxton cleared 1,600 games. The value he has created in a limited time has always been elite.
Among center fielders, Buxton has been playing at a Hall of Fame level. His 5.4 WAR/162 is above the average of the 21 HOFers at his position. His 5.4 WAR/162 is tied for 16th all-time among center fielders, with 11 of the players ahead of him already in Cooperstown and Mike Trout well on his way to joining them. Buxton has been elite, and that makes his time in the big leagues even more tragic, given how much injuries have impacted his ability to realize his potential.
The next three years will define the final chapter of Buxton’s Twins legacy. If he can continue producing four to five win seasons while staying on the field, he should comfortably move into the top ten players in franchise history and possibly challenge for a spot among the top five position players the organization has ever had.
If injuries once again limit his availability, he may end up remembered as one of the most electric talents the Twins ever developed, who simply ran out of time to build the counting stats needed to match his peak.
Where does Buxton rank among the Twins’ all-time greats? Leave a comment and start the discussion.
Are you interested in Twins history? Then check out the Minnesota Twins Players Project, a community-driven project to discover and collect great information on every player to wear a Twins uniform!