Minnesota Twins' Royce Lewis Gets Back to His Roots

[TopGunn#22]

Royce Lewis had Tommy John Surgery in May of 2023.

[KP34Forever]

57 minutes ago, TopGunn#22 said:

Royce Lewis had Tommy John Surgery in May of 2023.

ACL is the knee 

UCL is Tommy John

Lewis has never had Tommy John surgery. He didn't have any surgery in May 2023. That's when he came back from one of his ACL surgeries.

 

Not sure where you're getting your info, but it's bad info.

[TopGunn#22]

Got it from Google.  (I just googled "has Royce Lewis ever had Tommy John surgery)?  Google is not the most reliable despite the fact that it's widely available and used.  I believe I should play the victim.  ☺️

[Major League Ready]

4 hours ago, Nashvilletwin said:

I specifically said position players.  And the best position players who have “graduated” are Steer and Rooker.  I guess you could say Arraez too.  For the record, I have the under on Rodriguez and Keaschall.  I hope I’m wrong.  

What about Lewis / Wallner & Larnach?  Yes, Lewis had a rough stretch last year but those guys are solid players.  Wallner and Larnach actually had a good 2nd half last year.  Both were well above average.  Wallner was actually great.  They were not the problem.  I also would not thrown in the towel on Julien, Martin & Miranda either so it seems a bit over the top to be comparing the Twins to the Angels.

[ashbury]

3 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

I don't believe Lewis has ever had TJS and je does have a better arm than Brooks Lee. It's just not that accurate sometimes.

With all this talk about Tommy John, there has to be some truth to it.  Where there's smoke there's usually fire.  Who is behind this coverup?!!!1!!eleventy!!???

[arby58]

5 hours ago, Nashvilletwin said:

At least he’d be close to home.  Besides, it’d be hard to believe the Angel’s organization could be any worse developing young major league talent than the Twins. He’d get to play with Trout too,

You're joking, right? The Angels farm system is among the worst in baseball - and the Twins have 10 players likely to be on their 26 man roster with 3 or less years of big league experience, most of whom they developed. 

Minor league system rankings:

Baseball America: Twins 8th, Angels 30th (last)
Fan Graphs: Twins 18th, Angels 30th (last)
USA Today: Twins 13th, Angels 25th
ESPN: Twins 6th, Angels 28th
 

[Nashvilletwin]

57 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

What about Lewis / Wallner & Larnach?  Yes, Lewis had a rough stretch last year but those guys are solid players.  Wallner and Larnach actually had a good 2nd half last year.  Both were well above average.  Wallner was actually great.  They were not the problem.  I also would not thrown in the towel on Julien, Martin & Miranda either so it seems a bit over the top to be comparing the Twins to the Angels.

Agree on Wallner, but he’s still a platoon player in Rocco’s scheme.  So he still hasn’t really “made it” until he gets the reps in high leverage at bats.  But he’s probably overperformed vis-a-vis expectations.  We will see how 2025 turns out. I really like Wallner. 

The rest - Lewis, Miranda, Larnach, Martin, Julien (2023 version) and Lee have all underperformed relative to expectations. Not even close.

I’m cheering for them all - they are a big part of the reason I’m interested.

[Nashvilletwin]

23 minutes ago, arby58 said:

You're joking, right? The Angels farm system is among the worst in baseball - and the Twins have 10 players likely to be on their 26 man roster with 3 or less years of big league experience, most of whom they developed. 

Minor league system rankings:

Baseball America: Twins 8th, Angels 30th (last)
Fan Graphs: Twins 18th, Angels 30th (last)
USA Today: Twins 13th, Angels 25th
ESPN: Twins 6th, Angels 28th
 

Who said anything about farm systems?   This discussion is about transitioning achieving minor leaguers and top professionally ranked prospects into everyday major league regulars.  The Twins minor league system is fine, if not borderline outstanding.  However, under Rocco/Falvey, successfully continuing that position player development at the major league level is a black hole.  
 

Lewis might love to be traded to a team, Angels or otherwise, that will develop him defensively at a set position and continue to build his broader skill set more effectively.  The only problem would be the fight among the agents for the rest of our theoretical young core who would be fighting for their players to be the one traded.

[chpettit19]

1 hour ago, ashbury said:

With all this talk about Tommy John, there has to be some truth to it.  Where there's smoke there's usually fire.  Who is behind this coverup?!!!1!!eleventy!!???

I'll get Google AI on it to get to the bottom of this.

[DocBauer]

Lewis doesn't need me to defend him, but I'm compelled to make a couple points:

1] He stated he didn't want to move to 2B DURING the season because he was afraid he'd blow a play in an important game since he hadn't had any real time to adjust to the position. Why does this part of the 2024 discussion get left out? (He was also probably a little frustrated with his own performance at the time). In fact, he's worked pit at 2B in the offseason, though it looks like that idea may have been scrapped already by the Twins.

2] He's represented by "super agent" Scott Boras. If the Twins offer was really too low, or insulting, you never heard a word from Boras or Lewis about it. And he COULD have refused and gone to arbitration. 

A really good OP by Matthew! A good read and some good quotes. But he did sort of stop short of the whole story.

For all intent and purposes a PAIR of ACL injuries basically cost Lewis 2yrs of playing time. While rehabbing, he got bigger and stronger. That's not necessarily a bad thing unto itself. But 2 ACL injuries and more muscle, I'm pretty sure the 60 grade speed is gone. Doesn't mean he's slow, but he's not the same physically that he once was.

Now, adding muscle, getting stronger, rehabbing, is different than actually playing the game in full drive mode. So barely seeing the field for TWO YEARS, i don't think a few injuries are out of the question when returning to the field again. It stinks! But I don't think his soft tissue injuries are out of left field, no pun intended.

What was alluded to, but not included in the OP, is that this offseason he's been working with a previous physical therapist/trainer he trusts and has worked with previously. Their intent was for him to work on flexibility, and quickness, overall conditioning to help avoid those soft tissue injuries going forward.

Does that mean after actually playing a longer season than he has for some time, and all the hard offseason work mean his injury history is behind him? No. But I think a full picture of his situation and the work he's done needs to be presented in full context.

He figures out the throwing glitch he developed in 2024, he's primed to become a very solid 3B and maybe the Twins best overall bat. And yes, KNOCK ON WOOD his hard work is going to keep him on the field more in 2025 and beyond. 

I just think a full, complete picture is needed here when discussing what he's been through, the hard work he's put in, and what might be.

[arby58]

4 hours ago, Nashvilletwin said:

Who said anything about farm systems?   This discussion is about transitioning achieving minor leaguers and top professionally ranked prospects into everyday major league regulars.  The Twins minor league system is fine, if not borderline outstanding.  However, under Rocco/Falvey, successfully continuing that position player development at the major league level is a black hole.  

Kepler, Polanco, Buxton, Jeffers, Miranda, Larnach, Wallner - and Lewis for that matter. Jury is still out on Julien and Lee, but there are others right behind them. You interestingly limited it to position players - add pitchers and the list gets longer.

[Nashvilletwin]

28 minutes ago, arby58 said:

Kepler, Polanco, Buxton, Jeffers, Miranda, Larnach, Wallner - and Lewis for that matter. Jury is still out on Julien and Lee, but there are others right behind them. You interestingly limited it to position players - add pitchers and the list gets longer.

Please. Polanco and Kepler came up in 2016 and 2017. Buxton in 2015 and 2016. Rocco showed up in 2019. I will give you Jeffers, although his development seems to have stalled out last year after a great 2023.

The others you mentioned have not transitioned into solid everyday players. Lewis is closet, but his hitting is now suspect and he’s a below average 3B.  Wallner is still an platooner who isn’t allowed to hit against lefties. The Twins think so much of Miranda and Larnach that they brought in a couple of retreads to take their innings and ABs. Julien and Lee are in the same boat.

The reason for the position player focus is because pitchers play one position (same as catcher so Jeffers falls in this category); thus, Rocco can’t screw them up by moving them all around the diamond.

My point remains: the Rocco/Falvey regime is a death trap for top prospects.  

[Fatbat]

I googled “who performed TJ surgery on Royce Lewis?” and it referred to an unnamed Doctor on “Twins Daily”.

queue the English mystery music…. 

[Doctor Wu]

On 2/21/2025 at 8:46 PM, arby58 said:

Nobody traded to the Angels is a lucky guy.

Well, the current Angels manager is Ron Washington, who seems to be a players favorite, so it can't be all bad. But yeah, the likelihood of the Angels making the playoffs remains very slim. 

[arby58]

2 hours ago, Doctor Wu said:

Well, the current Angels manager is Ron Washington, who seems to be a players favorite, so it can't be all bad. But yeah, the likelihood of the Angels making the playoffs remains very slim. 

He did a good job in Texas, and I liked him as a player for the Twins as well - not much offense but positionally flexible (sound familiar?) and a 'good guy.'

[Doctor Wu]

On 2/23/2025 at 8:07 PM, arby58 said:

He did a good job in Texas, and I liked him as a player for the Twins as well - not much offense but positionally flexible (sound familiar?) and a 'good guy.'

And back before he got the Texas manager's job he was third base coach for the A's (and later for the Braves too) and many players praised him for helping them. Other obscure Ron Washington facts: he led the Pacific Coast League in hitting one year (in between MLB stints with Baltimore and Houston), and he was selected the MVP of the very short-lived "Senior Baseball Association" (for players over the age of 35; some were retired from regular play, but others like Ron, were still trying to hook up with MLB teams) back in 1989

[Doctor Wu]

1 hour ago, Doctor Wu said:

And back before he got the Texas manager's job he was third base coach for the A's (and later for the Braves too) and many players praised him for helping them. Other obscure Ron Washington facts: he led the Pacific Coast League in hitting one year (in between MLB stints with Baltimore and Houston), and he was selected the MVP of the very short-lived "Senior Baseball Association" (for players over the age of 35; some were retired from regular play, but others like Ron, were still trying to hook up with MLB teams) back in 1989

I found this bit about Washington and the Senior league on Wikpedia;

Infielder Ron Washington of West Palm Beach was the league's offensive star, hitting .359 with a league leading 73 RBIs and winning the MVP award.^[1] Washington's teammate Mickey Rivers hit .366, and Gold Coast Sun Bert Campaneris, the oldest everyday player in the league at 47, stole 16 bases.