MINNEAPOLIS -- All-Star opportunities don’t come around every year for Byron Buxton, especially in what’s practically his backyard. So Buxton is going to make the most of his trip to Atlanta next week.
Buxton announced in a post on Instagram on Monday that he will participate in the 2025 T-Mobile Home Run Derby. It will be his first time in the event.
On Sunday, Buxton was selected as an All-Star for the second time in his Major League career following a resurgent first half. A native of Baxley, Ga., in the southeastern part of the state, he has said that the chance to be an All-Star in his home state is particularly meaningful.
“When you’re healthy and you have the opportunities that come across to be able to do some things like this, you don’t tend to pass them up,” Buxton said. “Just having conversations with everybody that needed to know and that was important to me, it was something that I wanted to do and they supported me.
“Going back home to do something like this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I know I’m not going to play 30 more years for it to get back to Atlanta, so it’s that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that -- I talked about it with some close people, guys on the team, friends, family, and everybody got excited. … They didn’t want me to pass up the opportunity.”
In 73 games, Buxton has amassed 20 home runs, tied for fifth most in the American League. He has hit five leadoff home runs this year, giving him 14 in his big league career. He’s also had six games with at least one home run and at least one stolen base, the most of any player in the Majors in 2025.
He’s exactly the kind of exciting star who can make an All-Star Game or Home Run Derby extra memorable. Making it even better for Buxton is the excitement of his sons, Brix, Blaze and Baire.
“Oh yeah,” Buxton said. “[Oldest son] Brix is probably the most excited. He plays MLB The Show and he plays the Derby all the time. And he always is like, ‘Dad, if you do this, I want to bring you a towel!’ and I’m like, all right. That’s all he cares about. He wants dad to do it so he can bring me a towel and a Gatorade. And for me, that’s special. Out of everybody that’s there, all the people that he’s going to see, that’s what he wants and cares about. So it’s the small things that add up to the big ones.”