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Royce Lewis’s story has been one of extreme highs and extreme lows. From kicking off the 2024 campaign with a monstrous home run to dealing with injuries (as usual) and slumps (not so familiar), the 26-year-old has had quite the ride since being drafted in 2017. Now, as spring training gets underway, the Twins third baseman is feeling good after spending the offseason getting back to his roots.
“My intention [for the offseason] was just to get back to the roots of what I did when I was in high school when I was drafted,” Lewis said recently, in a scrum with reporters at Twins spring training in Fort Myers, Fla. “I feel fast, elusive, athletic, bouncy, all the things I want to feel.”
I'm not specifically targeting Lewis when I say this, but that's a shift from the traditional training mindset of working on skills related to a player’s bat and glove. Of course, theoretically, improving your athleticism should impact your ability to hit and play the field. Looking at the bigger picture, though, I think this represents a larger shift in mindset that points toward the former top pick taking the next step in his development. We know he has the skills to be successful, but focusing on his athleticism will help with maybe the most important skill: availability.
In eight professional seasons, Lewis has put together just three full campaigns (none since 2019). In 2022, he re-injured his surgically repaired right knee making a fantastic catch crashing into the center field fence. He returned exactly one year later, but would miss six more weeks due to an oblique strain in July of 2023. That's not to mention this awkward tumble.
Then, last season, it took all of three innings for Lewis to strain his quad and miss two months of the season. If there’s one commonality between all of these various injuries, it's that they’re largely related to the way he's moving his body, unrelated to baseball. One way to minimize these injuries is strength training, but another is to learn about and improve how your body moves.
“I’m really good at going zero to 60, but can I go 60 to zero … when I’m going through any movement pattern,” Lewis mused.
This quote stuck out to me, as I relived some of the aforementioned injuries. While it's unfair to blame him for going balls to the wall (literally), maybe he doesn't re-tear his ACL had he approached that center field wall with more finesse—something the Twins' actual center fielder took years to understand himself. Then we look at the awkward movement running the bases, from 2023 (above) and 2024 (below, an instance in which it's impossible to miss the value of better deceleration skills).
Whether or not this leads to 140 games played and a fully healthy season remains to be seen. What it does tell me, along with other comments regarding his daily routine, is that Lewis is turning the corner in his professional development. He’s starting to understand what it means to be a “pro” and, maybe ironically, it's led him back to his roots as an 18-year-old kid.
What are your expectations for Royce Lewis this year? Join the conversation in the comments!
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