Joe Ryan is back on the American League All-Star roster for a second straight year, and Byron Buxton has been voted in as a starter for the first time in his career. The Minnesota Twins got both pieces of news on Saturday, giving them two All-Star representatives and turning a routine summer game into a moment that said as much about the season as the honor itself.
The timing fit the day. Buxton had just returned to the Minnesota Twins lineup after missing four games with a hip injury and doubled in a run in his first at-bat, then went on to walk and hit a sacrifice fly in an 11-4 rout of the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. He is batting.269/.326/.574 with 25 home runs and 45 RBIs in 74 games, production that helped push him into his first career starting assignment for the All-Star Game, set for July 14 in Philadelphia.
For Ryan, the selection carried a different kind of weight. He was left off the American League All-Star team when it was announced on July 6, 2025, even though he had pitched well enough to belong, and the path back came three days later when he was added as an injury replacement for Houston's Hunter Brown. This time there was no delay. Ryan made the roster outright, giving him a second straight All-Star appearance after last year's detour.
Ryan has gone 5-5 with a 3.61 ERA and 113 strikeouts in 97 1/3 innings, a line that made the decision harder to ignore. Rocco Baldelli even reached out to Aaron Boone to make sure the American League manager knew Ryan would be ready if the roster opened up again, a small sign of how close the Twins had already come to sending him before. Ryan called the moment "really excited," and said it felt a bit like deja vu to head back with Buxton after they had been talking about it for weeks.
Buxton's path carried its own significance. Saturday marked his third All-Star nod, but his first time being chosen as a starter, a distinction fan voting gave him after years in which injuries interrupted his rise. He said being recognized meant a lot, then added that it had been a longer road to get there and that finally reaching this point made it special. The Twins improved to 43-47 with the win, and Ryan said the games ahead matter because they could shape what the front office does before the Aug. 3 deadline. For now, the payoff is simpler: two Twins are going to the All-Star Game, and both arrived there the hard way.
