The Minnesota Twins were happy to welcome No. 2 overall draft pick Byron Buxton to work out recently, but he took some batting practice without actually being under contract. Now, according to Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com, the Twins have completed their deal with Buxton and he's now an official member of the Twins organization.
The batting practice work was actually paired with a physical, so they're good-to-go on that front. According to the piece, the deal is for $6 million, just below the recommended slot for Buxton at No. 2 overall, which is $6.2 million.
"We brought him in to expose him to our Major League coaches, and our manager and our players," Ryan said. "I thought he did quite well out there for a young guy that came up here, 18 years old, not been around the type of caliber that these guys are. I'm proud of that. It was good to see. We didn't want to see balls going up in the cage and so forth. We wanted to see them go out, and that's exactly what he did."
Minnesota is really glad to have Buxton on board, as many figured they were going to take him in the lead-up to the draft. He'll likely begin his professional in the Gulf Coast League, with a chance to move up to Rookie-level Elizabethton before the end of the season. He batted .513 with three homeruns, 17 doubles and 35 RBIs in his senior season at Appling County High School (Ga.).
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