March 17: Lewis has been diagnosed with a “moderate” hamstring strain and will begin the season on the injured list, writes Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The injury is “not even close” to as serious as the quad strain that sidelined Lewis for more than two months early last season, according to Lewis himself. The team still does not have a formal timetable for his return to the active roster, however.
March 16: The Twins suffered a potentially devastating blow today when third baseman Royce Lewis exited the game after pulling up while running out a grounder. As relayed by Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the Twins subsequently announced that the infielder had been diagnosed with a hamstring strain. The severity of the injury is currently unclear, but it seems likely that Lewis will miss at least some time with Opening Day less than two weeks away.
Lewis, 25, is among a number of immensely talented but often injured players on the Twins’ roster. The first overall pick in the 2017 draft, Lewis was a consensus top-10 prospect in the sport all the way back in 2019 and appeared to be on the verge of a big league debut in 2021. Unfortunately, a right ACL tear wiped out the entire 2021 season for the youngster, and while he made his big league debut in 2022 he suffered a second right ACL tear shortly thereafter that sidelined him until late May of 2023.
He’s been a more regular fixture of the club’s big league roster since that second call-up, though he’s missed time over the past two years due to oblique, hamstring, quad, and adductor strains. All of those injury woes have left Lewis with just 140 games played and 564 plate appearances under his belt over the past two seasons, though he’s remained an exciting talent through all of those issues and slashed .265/.328/.493 with a 127 wRC+ and 3.5 fWAR while playing third base for the Twins when healthy enough to take the field.
After his first fully healthy offseason of his major league career, it seemed as though Lewis was set to finally have a shot at participating in a wire-to-wire MLB season. Those hopes have likely been scuttled for the time being now, though, as his latest hamstring injury appears likely to keep him off the club’s Opening Day roster given Lewis’s lengthy injury and, more specifically, his history of lower half issues. It should be expected that the Twins will proceed with caution when it comes to handling the youngster given that context, although it seems likely that a more specific timetable for Lewis’s return won’t be clear until more information about the severity of Lewis’s strain is available.
If there’s a silver lining in this for the Twins, it’s that the club is reasonably well-equipped to handle the loss of Lewis. Jose Miranda is likely the favorite to step in at third base in Lewis’s place and hit a respectable .284/.322/.441 in 121 games last year as he rebounded from a dreadful 2023 campaign. If Miranda were to stumble, however, they’d have further flexibility as well. Brooks Lee is currently penciled in as the club’s second baseman but could slide over to the hot corner to make room for Edouard Julien or top infield prospect Luke Keaschall at the keystone.
Aside from those possibilities, the club also has a versatile option with no set position at its disposal in Willi Castro. Castro is already slated to serve in a super utility role and could cover any spot on the diamond as needed. If Castro were to play on the infield dirt regularly, that could open up time in the outfield or at DH for potential outfield options like DaShawn Keirsey, Austin Martin, or even top prospect Emmanuel Rodriguez.
In other surprising news water is wet.
Literally came here to say: and also the sun rose
If I throw water onto water does the water become wet?
Yes.
Silly. It clearly becomes wetter.
No, throwing water on water doesn’t make the water “wet” because the definition of “wet” refers to a surface being covered or saturated with liquid, not the liquid itself.
I think my last braincell just fizzled.
This is truly remarkable. Genetic predisposition to multiple strains to every muscle group repeatedly over and over? It’s almost so unbelievable it’s farcical. It’s like Holy Heck dude, just stick to Boche Ball and Put-Put.
Makes you wonder what f athletes take time to properly warm up and stretch anymore.
Some players are injury prone.
Why do the twins have the 2 most injury prone players in the game on their roster
If they just had one, their name would make less sense.
finally someone tries to post something funny and it actually is.
Luis Robert would like a word with you.
Aye, raising you a Giancarlo Stanton.
Anthony Rendon says “hold my beer”
Rendon wakes uop and walkks to the bathroom and pulls something. He is a payroll bandit. Took LA for a ride after a career year.
Wouldn’t that be the Yankees with any combination of Cole, Gil, DJ, or Stanton?
MLB should create an annual award for most time spent on the IL for the season by a position player. It could be named the Rendon Award.
Yankees fans desperate to make it seem like they have it worse than other teams. DJ and Stanton at least have played 100+ games multiple times in a season during their Yankees tenure. Buxton has two years with 100+ games played in 10 seasons (and missed 21 games in the 60 game covid season in 2020) while Lewis has never played 100 games in a season. I think you guys can let the Twins have this “win”.
JT – Seems like several people here don’t understand the definition of injury prone.
It’s not about games lost, it’s about the NUMBER of injuries.
So calling someone like Cole injury-prone when he’s had only two injuries over the past four years is definitely silly.
Now Chris Sale is another story. Since 2021 ….
Elbow
Rib
Finger
Wrist
Back
Fever: Since Sale is an ex-Whife Sox, I’ll start there. I nominate Eloy, Robert and Moncada as the most often injured on any one team.
avenger – You’ve got the other Sox team beat only because O’Neill didn’t play with Sale and Story.
Go back a bit farther for those Yanks- DJ, Ellsbury… there is a long list of over paid and damaged players on their rosters…
Are you talking about Buxton, Correa or Lewis? They kind of have three now.
Steroids does a lot of damage to ligaments. Other than the Astros, the Twins are the most unethical team in baseball.
It apparently does damage to your brain too as you have plainly demonstrated.
That makes no sense. I’ve never used steroids. The Twins have cheated though. They used to turn the fans on and off inside the Metrodome during game play. That’s a known fact. Damaged ligaments are also a common side effect of steroid use. Wonder why so many of your “stars” are always hurt? Lol
So I was right about your brain damage. Thanks for verifying my assumption.
I guess what everyone says about Twins fans are true…they are all inbred and angry.
One of the biggest advantages of taking anabolics is the increased muscle recovery components which means IF a team were using them wide scale, they would be one of the least injury prone teams, or at the very least, their injured players would recover significantly faster than others. Maybe you are recommending the Twins players start taking steroids?
Wow you stay classy jag off. All you did was come here to pick a fight with no support of your argument.
don’t fully agree but i have always wondered about their 2019 which despite the rabbit ball was a huge outlier (home runs jumped from 166 to 307)
MLB needs to investigate him and Buxton for gambling. I think they have a bet going who can be on the IL more.
Just blame their translator…
That only works in Los Angeles…
Twins strength and conditioning crew needs to be overhauled
It has been. Plenty of the twins roster can get through an entire season without much injury. His body is obviously failing him. Not much else that can be done
Well that until strength and condition just pulled an acl stepping out of da car
@darkside830, since Falvey took over baseball ops the strength and conditioning has been overhauled at least three times
If a 25 year old can’t run straight without their body failing them there’s not really much else that can be done.
Lewis and Buxton are some of the biggest ‘what-if’s’ in recent baseball. Sucks that they happen to both be on the same team.
More like what nows in recent baseball, amirite?
Yo Moncada and Tim Anderson say hi
Tim Anderson was a 2x all-star who batted .328 with a 122 OPS+ over 4 seasons. I can see Moncada being sort of a ‘what-if’, but he’s had more healthy seasons than either Buxton or Lewis at this point.
Big wave from Mike Trout!
Moncada never showed anything. He had 64 Ks in 177 ABs his first go in AA. His early rankings were set to take a dive. TA had a few incredibly lucky years with BABIP and then regressed to normal.
Even Lewis’ stats had started to take a stumble in the minors.
But Buxton should’ve been a perennial AS.
A team like the WS should trade for guys like him and Trout to see if they could ever put together concurrent 150+ game seasons.
Joe: What have you got against Buxton and Trout?
moncada and rendon do not enjoy playing baseball so they may be willing injuries to happen
Reminds me of Grady Sizemore. All the talent in the world but couldn’t stay healthy.
Are some humans just more predisposed to being injured when exerting themselves during a sporting event?
If they’ve had injuries that result in surgery, yes.
Many surgeries are not a miracle fix and result in higher risk of re-inure and issues like general soreness. Bodies need ongoing maintenance after significant surgeries.
A repaired ligament is not as strong as an uninjured one.
Yes. It is odd how rarely this fairly obvious, but very important, point is made.
You’d think it would be obvious but most people haven’t undergone serious sports injuries or surgeries. My sister did many years ago and even though she doesn’t play sports anymore it’s an ongoing issue with soreness and other issues
I reported to General Soreness in the Army.
Shirley, you can’t be serious
He is, Theo… and don’t call him Shirley!
Rnor has it that Buxton got hurt while watching Lewis get hurt…
Rnor?
Rnor, that metal band where they all dress as where the wild thing creatures are
I thought that was GWAR? I have an excuse though, I’m old and dumb.
You’re thinking of the Dregs of Humanity.
Rumor…curse my fat fingers!!!
WHat a bad franchise the Twins have had. They should have like 5 pennants in the last 10 years with all that talent. What a waste of a franchise. Not spending money, bad fans,etc
Bad fans? Okay.
I’m done. he’s glassier than Buxton.
But not as gassy
Feel bad for the twinkies
Royce & buxton always hurt, always on DL
Tell us the definition of war
And what is it good for?
Absolutely nothing,..
Say it, again.
Lewis and Buxton shouldn’t be Plan A anymore.
That’s why the Twins have Castro and Bader this year and Taylor a couple years ago.
He’s put up a whopping 3.4 bWAR over three spotty seasons. It’s not like the Twins are losing Babe Ruth.
More like Baby Ruth next to some Butterfingers. Amirite?
Lewis could possibly have been a better hitter than Mike Trout if he could have stayed on the field.
He’s ahead of schedule as last year he at least waited until opening day before he got hurt.
I was watching that game and saw when it happened. Looks like a whole month out.
A month later they’ll still have no update
I’ll wager that he’ll be down a month before starting rehab, and he’ll have at least one setback that keeps him out until the second half of May. And we’re just talking about his first IL placement in 2025.
Glass
He’ll be out till Memorial Day
It’s amazing that with all of the advancements in conditioning, weight training, dieting and technology that players today are in worse shape than Babe Ruth was 100 years ago…
Babe Ruth was constantly injured. He was just too hung over to realize it, lol.
My theory is that the tighter the muscles, the easier it is to hurt them. I haven’t pulled a muscle in 30 years.
at least they haven’t given him one of those meritless long term contracts
Like they did for Buxton … they’ll never have to worry about paying any of the bonuses out on that one
Draft Royce to be my starting 3B, gets hurt not 2 hours later. Sounds about right…
I’ve been drafting Bregman, if I wait instead of taking Machado or JRam, as I have several teams. Bregman isn’t ranked too far ahead of Lewis, strangely. I think Bregman will rake in Fenway. Aside from his usual monthly IL stint, of course.
I rarely take players on the Padres in fantasy. Not because there are not great players on the team. Because I don’t want to curse them. lol
I drafted Bregman in 2 of 3 leagues this year.
I agree. I don’t take Tigers because they’re my favorite team and don’t want to jinx em.
I missed my first draft and wound up with both Lewis and Bregman (pre-RS). Can’t believe the default settings got me Lewis at #78 and Bregman at #139.
12 teams, 26 Man keeper league, then draft 19 rounds to make it a 40 Man Active roster plus 5 non-scoring non-active players (usually long-term prospects or pitchers you can sub in mid-week). I kept a ton of pitchers and traded Machado in the Offseason for Merrill. Needed that 3 bagger, rolled the dice on Lewis. Love his numbers when he’s on the field! Therein lies the rub…
The due is just an injury machine. They keep banking on this kids future and act like most of his injuries are freak injuries but rather or not they are, injured is still injured.
Twins brass need to keep in the back of their minds; dumping the players that are continuously suffering injuries:
Royce Lewis
Mike Tonkin
Matt Canterino
You gotta know when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em….
When to walk away and when to run !!
Change the name of this site from “MLBTR” to “Twins latest player to join IL and other MLB news”. Seriously at least 3 posts on the current home page
He’s the new Nick Johnson(look it up if you’re not old enough to remember)
Buxton, OTOH, is pretty much Eric Davis(Davis was probably better at his peak, but the narrative is similar).
If you remember Davis, the I assume you remember Kal Daniels? He had a 151 OPS+ in his first five injury-riddled years. He’d have been one of the best in the game had he stayed healthy.
The Twins best players seem to be made of glass. Exceedingly talented, but rarely on the lineup card. Correa, Buxton, and Lewis are the MVP’s of the IL list.
But the thing is with Correa, they knew there were issues there. Didn’t SF and a couple of other teams knock him back when he failed the physicals? Or am I misremembering?
Mets did too
Giants and the Mets both had him agreed then backed out after the medicals. Maybe Baltimore too, but they back out with everyone if they so much as bite their fingernails too short. So I could be thinking of one of the other players they did that with.
Giants and Mets.
Correa’s physical issues had nothing to do with his plantar fasciitis injuries the last 2 years
But if they can get one magical mostly healthy year…
WRONG Jose Miranda link. This happens way too often on this site!
Who knew there was more than one of them?
Really what we need, for us really old guys, is a CARMEN Miranda link!
Everyone knows that Lewis, Buxton and Correa will go down sooner rather than later. That’s probably why they don’t even get drafted in fantasy drafts unless it’s like a 12 team league. Even though they’re actually decent hitters if healthy.
Buxton disappointed me every year until I changed my strategy. Now I pick him up on waivers or as a throw-in, and enjoy his 30/30 level production until he gets hurt. Then I drop him and wait for him to be healthy again.
Far less painful that way.
If you get late on one of their positions and willing to stream players eith some work. These guys are gold when they hit for you. Reminds me of Adam LaRoche. Guy would kill a team in the first half. But bring him in second half and he’d carry a team sometimes.
The Twins aren’t just facing an “injury problem”—they’re at the crossroads of a scientific paradox in athletic performance. If teams don’t rethink how they develop and maintain explosive athletes, the next wave of No. 1 picks might not be superstars—they might just be the next Royce Lewis.
Royce Lewis is like a younger version of Stanton. Like fine blown glass. He can pull something getting out of bed. I think you have seen the best of this guy. He is always hurt.
If it’s a competition, Stanton still has the lead.
If it’s a competition, Rendon is the undisputed champ.
D Rose D Rose D Rose
Ingest Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM), Hyaluronic Acid, Glucosamine, Bovine Collagen, Gelatin, Animal or Dairy Protein, Omega-3, Vit C, Curcumin, Zinc, Vit A, Utilize Red Light Therapy and Electric Stimulators. Apply DMSO regularly to tender joints and tendons. Every Twin needs to do each of these and the injuries will decline 90%. It’s nucking futs that teams don’t contractually require players to properly care for their bodies..
Or just stop eating so much damned sugar. Excess sugar in the diet causes inflammation.
Mike Trout should play for the Twins – he would appear durable by comparison.
This guy must not believe in stretching before you do physical activity
Already in mid-season form
To quote Ted Bundy, “This is shocking.”