Royce Lewis Leaves Spring Game with Apparent Leg Injury

[Seth Stohs]

The Twins have talked about their relative health this spring. Unfortunately on Sunday afternoon, Twins third baseman Royce Lewis left the game with a leg injury. 

Image courtesy of William Parmeter

Twins fans were excited for finally get to see the first broadcast on Twins TV. Cory Provus and Justin Morneau are in the booth. Audra Martin is in the camera well, interviewing players. In the second inning, Rocco Baldelli was happy to spend a second half-inning with the Twins broadcast, answering questions on ABS, the spring training adjustments after the collapse late in the 2024 season. 

Royce Lewis was at the plate and hit a bounding ground ball down the third base line. It was the type of contact in which a runner can bet out the throw. Lewis put his head down and ran toward first base. About halfway down the line, he hopped and grabbed his left hamstring as he tried to slow himself down. 

 

He was out at first base, but that is obviously not what was important. 

Baldelli apologized and said he had to go out on the field. He jogged to first base where he talked with Lewis and first base coach Ramon Borrego and head trainer Nick Paparesta. No surprise, but Lewis was removed from the game. 

In the top of the third inning, Tanner Schobel took over at third base.

Unfortunately Lewis is not unfamiliar with injury. He missed the entire 2021 season after right ACL surgery. He came back in 2022 and soon after, he re-tore his ACL and missed another season. In 2023, he missed July and half of August with an oblique injury. He returned and then missed the final week of the season with a left hamstring injury. In 2024, he pulled his quad on Opening Day and missed about two months. He played for a month in June, but in early July he missed three weeks with an adductor strain. 

The team announced that Lewis, in fact, did injure his hamstring but nothing more at this point. With about 10 days until Opening Day, it would seem likely that Lewis will open the season on the Injured List. 

Updates to come when news becomes available. 

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[bean5302]

I think Brooks Lee just made the roster as the opening day 3B. That was a big strain judging on Lewis' reaction. My guess is he's not back before the beginning of June and that's also my answer on whether or not his lower body has healed.

Terrible news, but not terribly unexpected.

[jkcarew]

We once had a guy pure energy on grass

Soon turned out he had legs of glass

Seemed like the real thing only to find

Mucho missed games Twins fall behind.

 

Once had a guy and he was devine

Center field he was one of a kind

Seemed like the real thing now I’m losing my mind

Mucho missed games Twins fall behind.

 

Club Of Glass

[CRF]

Unfortunately, he's turning into Buxton 2.0. He's just never going to stay healthy. 

[markymark12]

We just can't have nice things.....

[chinmusic]

@jkcarew

Well said (or sung)

Man oh man...smh

[Ricky Vaughn]

Stewart hamstring, Canterino season ending surgery, Tonkin extended spring training to start the year. Some thins never change.

[CharlieDee]

Big surprise.

[rdehring]

This morning I read that Canterino is out for another year.  Expect they will stash him on the 60-day IL and see what he looks/feels like in October before reviewing his status.  But does this mean his career is over?  Also read that Stewart is hobbling a bit. 

Now Lewis is out for who knows how long?  Hopefully it heals and he is ready to return in a month, say the middle of April?

And I was hoping this year would be different.  I guess not.

[Whitey333]

What's more of a surprise?  Lewis getting injured or the Twins continued insistence of keeping him.  He is Buxton 2.0. Maybe he can turn it into a 7 year $100;000,000 million dollar deal too.  Then he can sit for 10 years and hardly ever play. What a fragile "player" he is.  Sheesh!

[tony&rodney]

7 minutes ago, Whitey333 said:

What's more of a surprise?  Lewis getting injured or the Twins continued insistence of keeping him.  He is Buxton 2.0. Maybe he can turn it into a 7 year $100;000,000 million dollar deal too.  Then he can sit for 10 years and hardly ever play. What a fragile "player" he is.  Sheesh!

Fragile isn't really the term. People have bad backs, heart problems, etc. Athletes put stress on their bodies. Everyone knows great athletes who had to stop playing because of various injuries. It happens all the time. 

 

[Rod Carews Birthday]

1 hour ago, jkcarew said:

We once had a guy pure energy on grass

Soon turned out he had legs of glass

Seemed like the real thing only to find

Mucho missed games Twins fall behind.

 

Once had a guy and he was devine

Center field he was one of a kind

Seemed like the real thing now I’m losing my mind

Mucho missed games Twins fall behind.

 

Club Of Glass

Is Debbie Harry a Twins fan?   I like Blondie even more now!   

[Parfigliano]

50 minutes ago, markymark12 said:

We just can't have nice things.....

Have him.  Just getting problematic using him.

[DJL44]

29 minutes ago, rdehring said:

This morning I read that Canterino is out for another year.  Expect they will stash him on the 60-day IL and see what he looks/feels like in October before reviewing his status.  But does this mean his career is over? 

Probably, players usually lose velocity with a labrum injury. To be fair, his career never really began.

[sweetmusicviola16]

I love the flair and talent of Lewis, but I'm convinced that he will never stay healthy. He'll be a 60 game a year player. Not someone you build a team around.

[FlyingFinn]

Hello Brooks Lee. You are our third baseman. Welcome to the team Eddie Julien. You are not going to St. Paul.

[Nashvilletwin]

Everything has winners and losers. In this case, Lewis (poor guy, just heartbreaking) is on the losing side.  So are the Twins and their fans.  Lee and Miranda are probably winners (sad way to win, but life is life).

Not sure about Julien or Rocco.  Julien may make the team, but this might reduce his chances of getting traded. Which is really better for him? Rocco once again loses his #1 hope (things were looking really good for Lewis and hopefully still will be) for proving he can actually develop a major league position player, but his built-in excuse for it possibly never happening can be blame it on the injuries, not me.  He’s probably covered on Lewis. 
 

The whole Lewis thing is so sad.  Geez.  Just horrible.  Hope he’s back soon.

[sweetmusicviola16]

12 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

Hello Brooks Lee. You are our third baseman. Welcome to the team Eddie Julien. You are not going to St. Paul.

We're also going to very likely see just how far Mickey Gasper extends his hitless streak.

[1985Fan]

6 minutes ago, sweetmusicviola16 said:

I love the flair and talent of Lewis, but I'm convinced that he will never stay healthy. He'll be a 60 game a year player. Not someone you build a team around.

Unfortunately, the Twins have built their team around Lewis, Buxton, and Correa. Fingers crossed that Buxton can play 120 games and Correa isn’t sidelined by foot injuries again. Twins two top prospects are also injured, not able to play in the Spring Breakout game. They can’t keep their players healthy. 

[Richie the Rally Goat]

1 hour ago, rdehring said:

This morning I read that Canterino is out for another year.  Expect they will stash him on the 60-day IL and see what he looks/feels like in October before reviewing his status.  But does this mean his career is over?  Also read that Stewart is hobbling a bit. 

Now Lewis is out for who knows how long?  Hopefully it heals and he is ready to return in a month, say the middle of April?

And I was hoping this year would be different.  I guess not.

They haven’t put Canterino on the 60 yet to avoid using MLB service time, and he was optioned before being placed on the Il.

he might go on the minor league 60 day, but I believe he stays on the 40 man roster.

[ashbury]

60-day IL versus not comes down to 1) how soon they can't fill needs from the current 40-man and thus need an open spot on the 40 and 2) who else goes down with a serious injury in the meantime.

[HerbieFan]

Am I crazy to think that even if Lee goes to 3B (likely) I still am not all that interested in having Julien at 2B?  Keaschall was reassigned so guess that's our fate.  Julien is just the definition of a "butcher" in the field.  

[darin617]

1 hour ago, tony&rodney said:

Fragile isn't really the term. People have bad backs, heart problems, etc. Athletes put stress on their bodies. Everyone knows great athletes who had to stop playing because of various injuries. It happens all the time. 

 

I think it's because of all the weight training. Guys are too strong for their own good. I always remember Bert talking about all the running he did. I know nothing about how the human bodies muscles, tendons, ligaments, etc work. But guys never seemed to miss so many games before weights became such a big part of conditioning.

[tony&rodney]

1 minute ago, darin617 said:

I think it's because of all the weight training. Guys are too strong for their own good. I always remember Bert talking about all the running he did. I know nothing about how the human bodies muscles, tendons, ligaments, etc work. But guys never seemed to miss so many games before weights became such a big part of conditioning.

This is something that has been a question. The weights and strength training reduces injury when it is specific workouts to a sport but many athletes build muscle mass which can compromise their frames. This is all under study quite a bit.

Running for baseball players was always a thing. Spring Training games used to have pitchers and a few players running along the outfield fences during the games themselves, getting out of the way when it was necessary. It was one of the unusual sideshows of a ST game. I haven't seen that for a while now. I am retired so I will need to ask some current coaches what is being done now. 

[darin617]

6 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

This is something that has been a question. The weights and strength training reduces injury when it is specific workouts to a sport but many athletes build muscle mass which can compromise their frames. This is all under study quite a bit.

Running for baseball players was always a thing. Spring Training games used to have pitchers and a few players running along the outfield fences during the games themselves, getting out of the way when it was necessary. It was one of the unusual sideshows of a ST game. I haven't seen that for a while now. I am retired so I will need to ask some current coaches what is being done now. 

Great point. I always say muscles grow but the tendons and ligaments stay the same. A player gets too strong it puts too much on the body and something has to give. 

[Joe A. Preusser]

21 minutes ago, darin617 said:

I think it's because of all the weight training. Guys are too strong for their own good. I always remember Bert talking about all the running he did. I know nothing about how the human bodies muscles, tendons, ligaments, etc work. But guys never seemed to miss so many games before weights became such a big part of conditioning.

Great point.  I think weight training is just one factor, but an important one.  What I feel it boils down to is that when you are a modern, legit world class athlete you are stressing the human body far above normal tolerances.  Whether that's too much muscle, too much speed or endurance, or whatever, it's like revving an engine in the red for 15 minutes straight until some part of that engine fails.  

Or, for a somewhat nerdier analogy, the modern world class athlete is like the U.S.S Defiant: Overpowered and overgunned,  literally tearing itself apart.  

 

[Vanimal46]

That’s a laundry list of leg injuries for a 25 year old man. 

[Vanimal46]

3 hours ago, CRF said:

Unfortunately, he's turning into Buxton 2.0. He's just never going to stay healthy. 

Buxton’s injuries have been all over his body for flukey and non-flukey reasons. Lewis’s injuries have all been focused on his legs. Which doesn’t bode well down the road. 

[LambchoP]

Time to look for a trade partner unfortunately. You can't have a starting third baseman and middle of the lineup bat who only plays 2-3 months a year :(

[mikelink45]

3 hours ago, rdehring said:

This morning I read that Canterino is out for another year.  Expect they will stash him on the 60-day IL and see what he looks/feels like in October before reviewing his status.  But does this mean his career is over?  Also read that Stewart is hobbling a bit. 

Now Lewis is out for who knows how long?  Hopefully it heals and he is ready to return in a month, say the middle of April?

And I was hoping this year would be different.  I guess not.

Canterino seems like the next one to take the Kirilloff retirement plan