On Royce Lewis, Quadriceps Strains, and the Twins' Options

[Lucas Seehafer PT]

The glossy patina covering the Minnesota Twins' 4-1 season-opening win over the Kansas City Royals was dulled a bit due to an unfortunate scene that has been all too common in recent years: a franchise cornerstone exiting the game due to injury.

Image courtesy of © Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

The injury bug once again burrowed its displeasing proboscis into star third baseman Royce Lewis, sucking up some of the vigor fueling the Twins' otherwise promising start to the season. Lewis came up lame rounding second base on a double by Carlos Correa and quickly exited the game following a consultation with athletic trainer Nick Paparesta. The team later relayed that Lewis had suffered a quadriceps injury and underwent an MRI as the contest progressed. (As of this writing, the results of the MRI have not been revealed.)

The quadriceps is the primary muscle group of the thigh, and is comprised of four different muscles (hence the name). Their purpose is to forcefully extend (i.e., straighten) the knee, particularly during powerful movements such as sprinting and swinging. Without a fully functional quadriceps, completing athletic movements becomes difficult, if not impossible, especially at the level needed to play major-league baseball.

Quadriceps strains are fairly common in baseball, with 68 having occurred between 2016 and 2023, according to Baseball Prospectus’s Recovery Dashboard. The average number of days missed following a quadriceps strain falls between 21 and 30 days, or approximately four weeks. However, the severity of the strain (as well as how Lewis responds to rehabilitation and ramping back to full baseball activity) will determine how much time he misses. Grade 1 strains—the least severe—tend to sideline athletes for a couple of weeks; Grade 2 strains may linger for a couple of months. Regardless, it seems as though a trip to the injured list is in the cards for Lewis.

As a result, expect the Twins to call up either Austin Martin or Jose Miranda should Lewis land on the IL. Brooks Lee would likely have been first in line for a promotion following a solid spring, but the former first-round pick is expected to miss the first month of the season as he recovers from back spasms, according to St. Paul Saints manager Toby Gardenhire. Martin played third base extensively during his college days at Vanderbilt but has not appeared at the hot corner during his minor league career; should he get the call, he will likely primarily appear at second base with Kyle Farmer shifting to third. Miranda rose up the minor league ranks and made his MLB debut as a third baseman, however, he has been transitioned to first base following a shoulder injury and corresponding surgery. 

Unsurprisingly, Lewis—who is known for his glass-half-full disposition—was his typical positive self after the win, reflecting on how cool it was to be in the big leagues on Opening Day for the first time in his career. He also mentioned that he was relieved that his latest injury did not directly impact his twice-surgically-repaired right knee.

Speculation will run rampant about whether Lewis’s two ACL ruptures caused, or at least contributed to, his quadriceps strain. The true answer is that it’s almost impossible to know, despite the seemingly clear correlation. Athletic injuries are complex and multifactorial. As such, there is never a clean explanation for why they occur, or if they were even preventable. Correlation does not equal causation, despite how logical the correlation may look on paper.

Regardless of how much time Lewis misses, this is not an injury that should hamper his future outlook, either this season or moving forward. As he has shown all too often, Lewis is perhaps the most resilient player in MLB. The big questions are whether and how much the Twins prove to be resilient after losing him, for some period of time.

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[ToddlerHarmon]

Thank you for the clarifying information. A hopeful outlook considering the possibilities

[FlyingFinn]

Hadn't thought about the possible connection of this to the ACL injuries. If so, seems to mean it could happen again. Where's our TD doctor to give us some further insight..........

[Whitey333]

Good luck Royce Lewis.  Good luck Twins.  Another season, another year of injuries to key Twins players.  This is sure getting to be old and frustrating.  I sure hope Lewis gets back soon.  He seems to be the real deal.  Good luck Royce.  We need you.  Go Twins!

[VivaBomboRivera!]

There is no triumph without loss

[CRF]

I've been following MLB since the early 1960's. I've been around the block more than a few times. Lewis has the most positive attitude, and best outlook, than any player I can recall. He's taken some real tough shots and come back before. He'll do that this time too. Hopefully, it's just a very short term injury and fast recovery. We need him in the lineup and he'll be back soon. 

[Jeff K]

Royce Lewis is just plain snake bit.  I'm sad for Royce; sad for the Twins and sad for all of the fans.  Darn it!

[Karbo]

I'd love to see Martin called up, but unless they feel he's capable to play 3rd I don't see it. I think they want  him to have more consistent playing time than just playing against lefties. But then again, this management team has surprised me many times in the past.

[JD-TWINS]

Bummer!!

Gotta assume that without Lee even being an option at this point, Castro drops in - mixed with Farmer, at 3B.

Need outfield depth with Castro potentially being at 3B more often than not. Martin can be infield & outfield depth - seems he’s the guy. Not sure if there is another hot hitting OF? I guess Larnach is a top option as well.

Really don’t see Miranda as a practical replacement after not much, if any, time at 3B since his shoulder repair.

We’ll know tomorrow morning I assume.

[Dman]

Bummer news on Royce, bur hopefully it isn't too bad in the end.  If I had to guess I would imagine Miranda would be the call up.  He has MLB experience, could play third in a pinch and with his good contact and power makes for a good punch hitter for lefty matchups late.

If Royce isn't going to miss much time maybe they roll with what they have?  Hard to say until we know more, but Miranda would be my guess.

[twinssporto]

Royce will get over this quickly. Quad injuries can heal quickly. I'm guessing he will be back in the lineup in another week or so.

Look, I'm not a doctor but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night....

[Kenny Powers]

Great read/insight.  I was wondering to myself how often this occurs and how long to recover. 

In fact, I was just out on my morning run and thinking...if we took 100 random people from this forum (regardless of age or physical conditioning) and had them run full speed from 1st to third - how many would get injured?  It just seemed crazy to me that a young athlete like Lewis who clearly trains year-round would come up lame just running the bases.  But your article shed some light on that, so I'll just dismiss as another unfortunately set back to the Royce Lewis experience.  Hopefully he's back in short order.  And this is opportunity for the next man up - who ever that might be.

[Old Twins Cap]

I don't know, you look at Royce's legs and he's really added a lot of muscle.  At some point in baseball, because of the need for explosive muscle movements, a player has to consider how they are going to avoid an injury to all that muscle.  Flexibility is the key and they do a lot of pre-game stretching.

But, you sit around for a couple of hours not really doing much and then all of a sudden, it's full-on sprinting in front of a crowd, everyone watching, the outcome hanging in the balance. 

For me, these athletes need to have "flexibility conditioning" not just weight training.  Or maybe, more consideration to flexibility, the lengthening of muscles, rather than just bulking them up.  Watch some games from the 60s and 70s and it is obvious that Baseball players have bulked up and as a result, injuries have exploded.

He wasn't focused on running, he was watching the ball down the LF line.  He screwed up rounding the bag, throwing off his stride.  Next thing you know, he won't be running at all for a few weeks, maybe a  month. 

So, two major issues:  preparing the body to maximize flexibility in the off-season.  Second, focus on running in a smooth, graceful gait, staying within yourself, carrying the team's hope forward without risking your ability to play at all.

His comments about wanting to score from first and get that third run say it all.  The goal should have been to make it safely to second and then third and not get ahead of himself.

He's a great kid, a great player and he really, really wants to help his team.  With maturity, he will need to learn how to do that in a more measured, disciplined way.

[Eris]

Not an expert. My daughter was being recruited for college volleyball when she tore her ACL. She had the BEAR procedure almost a year ago. There is significant amounts quad muscle atrophy from ACL surgery. There is still a noticeable difference in muscle size and also strength (about 90% of the contralateral leg). My daughter hits the gym almost every day. 
 

While I expect Lewis to be in top shape, it would not surprise me if there were measurable weaknesses in his twice surgically repaired knee/leg. 

[saviking]

Have to wait for the MRI so we know the severity and Lewis may need to not strain at all out full speed in the future. He got plenty of speed th throttle down a notch. The kids got to play smarter as does Buxton.

[CCHOF5yearstoolate]

4 minutes ago, Old Twins Cap said:

I don't know, you look at Royce's legs and he's really added a lot of muscle.  At some point in baseball, because of the need for explosive muscle movements, a player has to consider how they are going to avoid an injury to all that muscle.  Flexibility is the key and they do a lot of pre-game stretching.

But, you sit around for a couple of hours not really doing much and then all of a sudden, it's full-on sprinting in front of a crowd, everyone watching, the outcome hanging in the balance. 

For me, these athletes need to have "flexibility conditioning" not just weight training.  Or maybe, more consideration to flexibility, the lengthening of muscles, rather than just bulking them up.  Watch some games from the 60s and 70s and it is obvious that Baseball players have bulked up and as a result, injuries have exploded.

He wasn't focused on running, he was watching the ball down the LF line.  He screwed up rounding the bag, throwing off his stride.  Next thing you know, he won't be running at all for a few weeks, maybe a  month. 

So, two major issues:  preparing the body to maximize flexibility in the off-season.  Second, focus on running in a smooth, graceful gait, staying within yourself, carrying the team's hope forward without risking your ability to play at all.

His comments about wanting to score from first and get that third run say it all.  The goal should have been to make it safely to second and then third and not get ahead of himself.

He's a great kid, a great player and he really, really wants to help his team.  With maturity, he will need to learn how to do that in a more measured, disciplined way.

You don't think they train flexibility? Come on. 

And a good ball player is always going to think about scoring in a situation like that. That's what you want from a guy like Royce.

Injuries are unfortunate, but this is a gigantic overreaction to what sounds like a very minor injury that is not that uncommon in baseball. 

[Lucas Seehafer PT]

2 minutes ago, Old Twins Cap said:

Flexibility is the key and they do a lot of pre-game stretching.

Unintuitively, flexibility has almost no impact on injury prevention. This has been shown in the research many times. Simultaneously, having more muscle bulk and strength has been shown to be protective against injury in the grand scheme. This is partially why strength training has become so prevalent while traditional stretching programs have declined in favor of what's called "dynamic" stretching. Dynamic stretching focuses less on holding static positions and more on working through a full range of motion while moving. This increases blood flow to the muscle tissue and, because of friction between the different muscle fibers, literally warms up the muscles. That's why you see athletes doing band work, jogging, carioca, etc. prior to games. That's not to say there isn't a place for flexibility work, but I don't think it's the issue here.  

[terrydactyls]

After watching replays of Lewis rounding 2B, I was convinced he suffered an ankle injury.  Not only did he hit the bag awkwardly, but he also appeared to roll it over two steps later.  The announcement of a quadricep injury was a surprise.  You never know what might happen.  I tore my miniscus a couple years ago running from home to first.  Now I will say that, unlike Lewis, I was a 72-year old, fifty pound overweight athlete.  Ended both my baseball and my hockey careers.  And it led to a total knee replacement last December.  I'm pretty sure that the results will be much better for Lewis.

[terrydactyls]

6 minutes ago, Lucas Seehafer PT said:

That's why you see athletes doing band work, jogging, carioca, etc. prior to games.

Isn't carioca where people get up on a stage and pretend they can sing?

[Dave The Dastardly]

Sounds like he rectus his femoris.

[Dave The Dastardly]

8 minutes ago, terrydactyls said:

After watching replays of Lewis rounding 2B, I was convinced he suffered an ankle injury.  Not only did he hit the bag awkwardly, but he also appeared to roll it over two steps later.  The announcement of a quadricep injury was a surprise.  You never know what might happen.  I tore my miniscus a couple years ago running from home to first.  Now I will say that, unlike Lewis, I was a 72-year old, fifty pound overweight athlete.  Ended both my baseball and my hockey careers.  And it led to a total knee replacement last December.  I'm pretty sure that the results will be much better for Lewis.

I'God it's depressing talking to you, Pee.

Pop Quiz: what movie is that line from? Winner gets a virtual bottle of Grain Belt.

I tore my ACL in 1965... been tore ever since. Not as fast as I used to be, which my coach rated as Moderately Slow, but I don't dare stop on a dime.

[stringer bell]

20 hours ago, Karbo said:

I'd love to see Martin called up, but unless they feel he's capable to play 3rd I don't see it. I think they want  him to have more consistent playing time than just playing against lefties. But then again, this management team has surprised me many times in the past.

Disagree. The team doesn't need Martin to play third except in an emergency. They have Farmer and Castro to fill the void. Having Martin available to play both outfield and second base as a right handed hitter gives them the flexibility they might need to keep Farmer/Castro at third base. I have speculated for a while that Willi Castro will play more on the infield this year and less outfield. Lewis' injury might make this happen.

[Guest]

Good information, thank you.  Love Lewis and will pray for speedy recovery.

[Steve Lein]

48 minutes ago, Eris said:

Not an expert. My daughter was being recruited for college volleyball when she tore her ACL. She had the BEAR procedure almost a year ago. There is significant amounts quad muscle atrophy from ACL surgery. There is still a noticeable difference in muscle size and also strength (about 90% of the contralateral leg). My daughter hits the gym almost every day. 
 

While I expect Lewis to be in top shape, it would not surprise me if there were measurable weaknesses in his twice surgically repaired knee/leg. 

10+ years after my own ACL, surgery, and there is still a very noticeable difference in my quad muscle on my good leg vs that one. However, I am not a professional athlete nor a gym person, so that's perfectly explainable 🤣 Rehabbing got it to a point where it wasn't noticeable in function, so I say whatever. I don't play the outfield or without my knee brace in softball anymore though, just in case, hah.

[SD happy]

This might be out of ‘left field’, But, I wonder if Michael Helman might be called up. He plays third base, had a solid year last year. He was in line to be called up last year until his injury. 

[Gamblerssoftball]

1 hour ago, Kenny Powers said:

Great read/insight.  I was wondering to myself how often this occurs and how long to recover. 

In fact, I was just out on my morning run and thinking...if we took 100 random people from this forum (regardless of age or physical conditioning) and had them run full speed from 1st to third - how many would get injured?  It just seemed crazy to me that a young athlete like Lewis who clearly trains year-round would come up lame just running the bases.  But your article shed some light on that, so I'll just dismiss as another unfortunately set back to the Royce Lewis experience.  Hopefully he's back in short order.  And this is opportunity for the next man up - who ever that might be.

I spend the winter at a 55+ rv park in Arizona. We have a beautiful softball field and several teams, one of which I play on and manage. I also evaluate new players to place them on teams according to their skill level. Invariably, nearly all the new players pull a leg muscle within a game or two. They may believe that because they have been hiking, or playing tennis or pickleball, that they won't get hurt. But, sadly, they find out that they haven't been sprinting, and that's the instinct when ball meets bat. Stretching is so important to full speed running. Even the veteran players suffer through these injuries. Of course, we're not youngsters anymore. Royce is young and has the best facilities and personnel to get him going relatively quickly. Good luck to him!

[LastOnePicked]

On any team, this would be a letdown. On a team that is fighting to keep open a window of contention, while dealing with the prospect of massive payroll cuts in the years ahead, this is ... worse. Twins fans have been hoping for something big to happen for this franchise. Instead, the most talented spark plugs keep cracking.

Others have a better attitude on this. But I'm sick of baseball at this point. Sick of watching big market teams pad their rosters with free agents while we have to pray our top prospects don't get totally derailed by fluke injuries.

Life isn't fair. Everybody understands that. Baseball is our escape, though. Baseball should be fun. This isn't fun.

[Mike Sixel]

Thanks for sharing your expertise!

[MGM4706]

Saying he is one of the most resilient players in MLB is a bit of a stretch. Resilient is being injured and coming back to play an extended period. He is resilient only to come back and get injured again. Like Buxton.

[Lucas Seehafer PT]

19 minutes ago, MGM4706 said:

Saying he is one of the most resilient players in MLB is a bit of a stretch. Resilient is being injured and coming back to play an extended period. He is resilient only to come back and get injured again. Like Buxton.