Mycampusplug
Breaking: Royce Lewis comeback confirmed for Twins vs. Yankees faceoff
NEW YORK Just in time for Broadway’s bright lights, he’s back. Royce Lewis, who sustained a devastating injury on Opening Day, is anticipated to make his Twins debut on Tuesday night when they begin a three-game series against the New York Yankees, nine and a half weeks after the injury.
In the third inning of the game on March 28, Lewis singled, homered, and hurt himself while crossing the bases. He missed the next 58 games for the team due to a serious strain in his right quadriceps.
The Twins had to make the tough decision to demote second baseman Edouard Julien to Triple-A St. Paul in order to create room for Lewis. Despite the difficulty of the choice, the Twins are aware of what they are getting in Lewis, whose star has flared during his brief stay in the major leagues.
Carlos Correa, the shortstop for the Twins, expressed his excitement to be playing beside Royce once more last week. “We need a player of his generation on the field,” Lewis has lived up to the hype despite playing in less than 100 games overall over the regular season and playoffs.
Lewis, who was selected with the first overall choice in the 2017 MLB Draft, has played in 282 big-league plate appearances, hitting.313/.369/.564 with 58 RBIs and 18 home runs. In six playoff games, he also blasted four more home runs, including two in his postseason debut in October of last year.
However, a string of ailments has curtailed Lewis’s genius. Lewis’s right knee’s damaged anterior cruciate ligament caused him to miss the full season after his diagnosis in the spring of 2021.
Lewis sustained a recurrence of the injury shortly after he returned in 2022, missing the rest of the season after crashing into the center-field fence while chasing down a fly ball.
Lewis also experienced a number of injuries in 2023. Lewis suffered an oblique strain that kept him off the field for six weeks before he was placed on the injured list with a hamstring strain on May 29, 2023, after he had returned to play.
The Twins are asking Lewis to stop running at full speed all the time out of self-preservation due to his history of injuries.
Correa accepts the logic being applied to Lewis in an effort to remain on the pitch. On simple groundballs, Correa has urged teammates to slow down rather than sprint at full speed.
In an effort to maintain his health, center fielder Byron Buxton seems to be paying attention as he lessens his aggressiveness on routine plays. The Twins were not happy when Lewis stole a base in his first rehab game for St. Paul on May 25, after they had asked him to slow down carefully.
However, the Twins are not the only team suggesting it. During batting practice last month, Mitch Garver, Lewis’s former teammate, offered a similar letter while the Mariners were in town.
“Dude, Royce, I really enjoyed watching you during the playoffs last year,” Garver recalled saying. That was a lot of fun. You were destined for the postseason. You succeeded. Run it like 85 percent; you’re worth more on the field than off.
Early in May, Lewis recognized the idea and said that he might need to make a change in order to continue playing. Lewis remarked, “The difficult part is staying healthy.”
“This game features a ton of insane athletes. Regretfully, that extraordinary strength, agility, and explosiveness can be challenging to control at times. I have to play like… just a little bit slower, sometimes.
In Lewis’ absence, the Twins went six games over.500, winning 26 of their next 39 games following a sluggish start. An offense that survived without one of its top hitters gains a step up with Lewis in the lineup.
Ranked 12th out of 30 clubs in MLB, the Twins rank 15th in OPS and 12th in runs per game. During his rehab stint at St. Paul, Lewis appeared in six games and recorded a 4-for-23 batting average with eight strikeouts.
After going 0-for-16 in his previous two plate appearances on Sunday, he ended the run. Manager Rocco Baldelli stated of Lewis earlier in the week, “We want to time it up right.” “Ensure that he is placed at the appropriate time and location.”
