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

[RocRedWing]

Just such an amazing dude. Every interview and quote makes me feel thankful he's a Twin. Keeps his head up, loves the game. I'm hoping the injury is short term, but no matter what, we're really fortunate to have Royce around.

[LA Vikes Fan]

2 hours ago, CCHOF5yearstoolate said:

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. 

It would interesting to know if Lewis regularly had stretching training like yoga, pilates, or similar movements. If not, sounds like something that should be incorporated into this routine. I'm no professional quality athlete but can say that pilates in particular really helped me whine coming back from ACL surgery and in the years beyond.   

[joefish]

Godoumit.

seems like more than just bad luck. 

Really disappointing. 

[bean5302]

My best guess is when he had that awkward ankle roll, he reflexively overcompensated and the sudden reaction led to the injury. I don't think it's "running" or "stretching" related. For us normal people, it looks like he "tweaked it" so hopefully he didn't hurt it that bad at all. As of right now, I wouldn't be surprised to see him back for the Dodgers series.

[bean5302]

The most glaring question in all of this is how were Royce Lewis and Carlos Correa so good at the plate when their spring training results were so mediocre?

[h2oface]

First Buxton. Now Lewis. Just can’t stay on the field. Snakebit. Sad for Lewis. Sad for the Twins. 

Normally, I love the sound of breaking glass.

[Parfigliano]

16 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

The most glaring question in all of this is how were Royce Lewis and Carlos Correa so good at the plate when their spring training results were so mediocre?

Now it counts.  Gear up.

[sweetmusicviola16]

After reading through the article and the comments I'm still learning about Quad injuries and don't know the extent of Royce's injury. But two things I have figured out, there are quite a few out of shape old farts commenting on Twins Daily.

[bean5302]

18 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

Now it counts.  Gear up.

It's not possible. Everybody knows Spring Training stats are the most important values to predict regular season performance!

[Parfigliano]

31 minutes ago, sweetmusicviola16 said:

After reading through the article and the comments I'm still learning about Quad injuries and don't know the extent of Royce's injury. But two things I have figured out, there are quite a few out of shape old farts commenting on Twins Daily.

I represent that comment!

[twinfan]

Though I have had my doubts about Lewis, he's proved that he could be a major league star. He has had injury issues before and, no doubt, will have them again as some players are prone to having them. It's hopeful that he doesn't rush himself back and that the Twins will be ok without him in this weak division. I'd like to see Miranda get a shot at filling in. I'd also look at the waiver wire to see who could do the job. Now let's pray that nobody else gets hurt. Several teams have key players out right now (Cole, Steele, Devon Williams, etc.).

[Timbo]

5 hours 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.

 

[RpR]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

The most glaring question in all of this is how were Royce Lewis and Carlos Correa so good at the plate when their spring training results were so mediocre?

Gee one whole game but at that , Jeffers had a good Spring Training and was absolutely Lousy yesterday!

[Timbo]

I agree that he sounded immature thinking he could somehow score. His positivity and grin didn’t translate well to me as it did for others. He should have been able to properly run the bases instead of looking terribly awkward trying to round second base.

[ashbury]

I pulled a quad during my slo-pitch years, and let me tell you a thing or two...  oh, never mind.  😀

Good luck, Royce!  Hope you make all the pessimistic prognostications look silly.

[Linus]

Mandatory yoga for all Twins!

[1985Fan]

Agree with previous commenters that his attitude plus his talent makes him a team leader. I think the Twins will do great things if they can get as many games as possible from him. 
I remember Molitor was injured often early in his career but eventually went on to a HOF career. Hope Royce recovers quickly and finally shakes the injury bug. What an amazing talent. Good luck and god speed Royce Lewis. Can’t wait to watch him play again! 

 

 

[wipster]

Because WE as Minnesota Sports fans are part of the curse of all our Pro sports teams:

Wild: financially handcuffed by the Parise & Suter contracts which were signed before the NHL changed the rule. (I know they knew about it but still....)

Vikings: Looking like everything was starting to gel..........QB out for the season!

Timberwolves: After last year, this year the team is looking great, jelling together.......KAT goes down!!! We'll see how this turns out. Not to mention NEVER moving up in the rigged NBA lottery!!

Twins: Buxton; Superstar talent.....can't stay on the field! WAIT!!! Now we also have another Superstar talent....Royce Lewis......(1 game 2 ab's and back on the shelf for at least a month) can't stay on the field!

It's the Minnesota (Big 4) Pro Team curse.

I grew up watching the Vikings make 4 Super Bowls (0 wins). Never would have thought that after 62 years, I'd still be waiting for the 1st SB Win!! It makes you wonder whomever the poor soul who the Vikings draft as the next QB probably doesn't stand a chance!! What malady awaits him? Only time will tell!!

[Fatbat]

Quad strains heal relatively quickly and wont be a long term issue.  Ive been through the same injury while running the bases. 3-4 weeks is likely to heal and rehab the soft tissue. He will likely be pain free within 2 weeks as it feels like a bad cramp/charlie horse type of pain. It’s possible that lack of hydration caused the muscles to become strained. My guess is that they will take it slow so Miranda or Martin will be in the show.

[kroll]

8 hours 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.

Unfortunate absolutely. 

Come up lame just running the bases.......?????

I imagine no one understands why these issues come up but it does seem common to the Twins. I mean they train most of the year I would imagine.....they jog, run, walk and stand for how many weeks at ST. And they can't run from first to third without injury? Freak occurrence......I guess?

P

[alexlegge]

We already have a meaningful data point suggesting that this could be a slog: Royce’s comment after the game saying that it felt “basically the same.” 

He’s the most optimistic dude in baseball, yet he’s indicating that the crampy pain he’s experiencing after over an hour of rest is comparable to what he experienced during the high-intensity sequence of movements that triggered the injury…

I’m no orthopedist, but that’s not particularly reassuring. 

[DJL44]

18 hours ago, RpR said:

Gee one whole game but at that , Jeffers had a good Spring Training and was absolutely Lousy yesterday!

The radio team said he laid down a good bunt

[USAFChief]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

The radio team said he laid down a good bunt

He did not.

A "swinging bunt," yes.

[bean5302]

2 hours ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

Well, we have Doc Bauer, Doctor Gast, Doctor Wu, lots to choose from for advice.

We need Dr. Who and that sonic screwdriver thing he can probably just point at Royce Lewis and fix him.