NEW BRITAIN, Conn. (AP) — Minnesota Twins star prospect Byron Buxton was taken off the field in an ambulance after an outfield collision Wednesday night in his first game for Double-A New Britain.
The 20-year-old center fielder sustained a concussion when he crashed into right fielder Mike Kvasnicka diving for a ball Kvasnicka caught in the fifth inning of the Rock Cats’ 8-5 victory over the Bowie Baysox. David Adams tagged up and scored from first base after the jarring collision that delayed play for more than 30 minutes.
Twins general manager Terry Ryan was at the game and rode in the ambulance with Buxton and Kvasnicka, who walked away after the collision. Ryan said Buxton was unconscious for 10 minutes.
“He’s alert,” Ryan said on the Rock Cats’ game broadcast. “He has a concussion, so we’ll have to take the normal procedures and protocol for concussion symptoms. He’ll certainly be watched. … It could have been a lot worse. We are grateful for just the concussion. That was very scary.”
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Buxton was 0 for 3 with three strikeouts in the game.
Selected second overall in the 2012 draft and considered the top prospect in all of the minor leagues entering the season, Buxton was promoted from Class A Fort Myers on Monday. Hampered by a left wrist injury sustained in spring training, he hit .240 with four homers and 19 RBIs in 121 at-bats in 30 games for Fort Myers.
Buxton, from Baxley, Georgia, split time last season in Class A with Fort Myers and Cedar Rapids. In 270 at-bats in 68 games for Cedar Rapids, he hit .341 with eight homers and 55 RBIs and stole 32 bases. For Fort Myers in 57 games and 218 at-bats, he hit .326 with four homers, 22 RBIs and 23 steals.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
