The questions around Byron Buxton have never been about his talent. They’ve never been about his work ethic. They’ve never been about his desire. They’ve been about one thing and one thing only: his health.

“If he could stay healthy,” was the beginning to so many sentences, sentences that ended with things like “then he could be one of the best players in the game.”

Byron Buxton is healthy — and has been for most of the first half of the season — and yes, he’s now has taken his place amongst the best players in the game. Tuesday, that will be on display in the All-Star Game, where he will be joined by his teammate, Joe Ryan, in a game that will take place in his home state of Georgia.

“This is a pretty spectacular first half that he’s had and we’ve seen some great things from him over the years,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “What we’ve been watching from him recently is just memorable. It’s been enjoyable, but it’s also been baseball at its highest level.”

The Twins hit the All-Star break after Sunday’s game 47-49, after a rollercoaster first half of the season filled with up and down baseball. But the most consistent bright spot has been the 31-year-old Buxton, who is hitting .289 with a .925 OPS, which is tied for fifth in the majors, behind names like Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani.His 21 home runs put him just outside the top 10 in the majors. His 17 stolen bases — in 17 attempts — are 15th overall in the majors, and as good of a sign as any that his lower half, which has given him so much trouble over recent seasons, is feeling healthy.

It was no guarantee that Buxton would reach this level again after having two surgeries in consecutive years on his right knee. He played in 92 games in 2022 before having the first surgery. In 2023, he appeared in 85 games and none came in the outfield. He appeared strictly as a designated hitter as the Twins reduced the load placed on his knee.

Another surgery followed and though he required stints on the injured list for knee and hip inflammation, the 2024 season was one of his healthiest to date, topping 100 games for just the second time in his career.

This year, he’s already at 78 games played, and that number would be higher if not for a mid-May collision with shortstop Carlos Correa that left both Twins stars concussed and forced Buxton off the field for two weeks.

“The only way you return to this level of performance and the only way you keep your body in a place that he’s kept it is by putting in the effort every day,” Baldelli said. “You have to almost be obsessed in a lot of ways with that level of work. It’s hard to take care of your body to that extent and he does it. He continues to do it. It’s not a sometimes thing or a most of the time thing. It’s his life.”

The fruits of all that hard work have been sweet.

On Saturday, Buxton hit for the first cycle of his career, capping a 5 for 5 day with a home run to become the first player to accomplish the rare feat at Target Field in the ballpark’s history.

To make it even better, he did it on the day on which the Twins were passing out his bobblehead.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous before the game started, just knowing it was bobblehead day,” he said. “Obviously you want to come out and do something good, so to be able to come out on bobblehead day and have a day like this is something I won’t forget.”

While the cycle was the highest point in his first half, there’s been plenty of other electrifying moments, like the game-saving catch he made in April to end a game against the Chicago White Sox or the day he robbed a home run in the second inning and hit one of his own in the third.

This is what a healthy Byron Buxton can do. This is what the Twins have been waiting for.

“Buck has been blessed in many ways with great ability,” Baldelli said. “But you don’t get blessed with great work ethic and determination. That’s totally different. There’s physical gifts that God gave you that you can thank your parents for. He has an entire other set of strengths and really assets to all that he’s accomplished, which is the fact that he shows up and the work ethic is incredible and he has this desire to be great and he doesn’t let challenges get in his way.”