The bad news for Royce Lewis just never ends.
After the Minnesota Twins selected the uber-talented shortstop No. 1 overall in the 2017 MLB Draft, Lewis has often flashed the five-tool talent that made him the top pick five years ago, but unfortunately, he’s also missed a ridiculous amount of time since.
The latest delay to Lewis’ career ascension comes in a similar form as last year, when he missed the entire season with a torn ACL in his right knee.
Now as several sources are reporting, Lewis has suffered a partially torn ACL in the same knee. He will once again undergo ACL reconstruction surgery, which places him on another 12-month recovery timeline.
Royce Lewis suffered the injury on May 29
He was initially diagnosed with a bone bruise after crashing into the center-field wall at Target Field on May 29. Lewis hasn’t played again since, but as the news suggests, he won’t be back on the baseball diamond until next summer. Which is another big blow to his career.
Lewis already worked throughout 2021 plus the offseason with a goal of being 100% healthy to start the year off on the right foot in 2022.
Although the Twins signed Carlos Correa to hold down shortstop for as long as he wants, the Twins have been instructing Lewis to learn other positions, such as third base and center field, taking advantage of his speed and strong arm.
This potentially would offer the team’s top prospect in the organization to receive regular playing time in the big leagues, since he had been crushing at the AAA level, hitting .313 through 153 plate appearances.
Lewis, the 39th-ranked prospect on MLB’s top-100 list, now is set to miss practically what will be the third full season of his career after all the minor league players had their season wiped out due to COVID-19 in 2020.
If Correa does decide to opt out of his contract, the Twins will be looking to count on Lewis in a big way next season, but this latest injury makes that difficult with him already set to miss the team’s first 60 games of the year.
The biggest thing Lewis needs is just to play and gain experience playing shortstop or really anywhere the Twins can fit him in, as his bat is hard to keep out of the lineup.
Hopefully Lewis can have a safe recovery process because this kid has a chance to be special.
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