Former Cedar Rapids Kernels outfielder Byron Buxton has been named the Minor League Player of the Year by Baseball America. Buxton played 68 games for the Kernels this past season, hitting .341 with eight home runs and 55 RBI, and was promoted to the Fort Myers Miracle in late June.

Buxton hit a combined .334 this season with 12 home runs and 77 RBI in 125 games. He led the minors with 18 triples and was named the MVP and Prospect of the Year in the Midwest League. The Minnesota Twins selected Buxton in the first round (second overall) of the 2011 First Year Player Draft out of Appling County High School in Baxley, Ga.

Buxton joins Mike Trout (2010) as former Kernels who have won Baseball America’s Minor League Player of the Year. He is the second Twins player (Joe Mauer, 2003) to win the award since it was first presented in 1981.