Royce Lewis was suspended by head coach minnesota Twins
Top prospect Royce Lewis of the Twins is out for the season due to another ACL injury.
Minneapolis, MinnesotaAnother season-ending setback for the team’s top prospect, Minnesota Twins shortstop Royce Lewis, will be reconstructive ACL surgery on his right knee for the second year in a row.
The Twins made the announcement prior to their Friday night game against Tampa Bay. Lewis will have the surgery later this month, and his recuperation period will last a full year.
In his first, and possibly only, appearance in center field, he made a challenging catch that led to his injury in the third inning of the game on May 29.
After the swelling receded, more testing indicated a partial rupture of the same ligament he had torn during offseason training the previous year and had fixed on February 26, 2021. The ailment was first described as a bone bruise.
Lewis stated, To me, trying to play on a bum knee just didn’t make sense. I want to be out there as much as possible because I love my teammates, but I don’t want to be out there halfway through and worrying about my knee.
We have guys that are incredibly good at all of these roles, so I believe it just makes more sense for me to handle it myself.
The indomitably positive Lewis, the first overall selection in the 2017 amateur draft, admitted to being especially disheartened by this run of poor luck.
It’s just a break, just another setback, that, to be honest, will drive me to do better things and possibly reach out to other people and other hearts that are going through some difficulties, Lewis remarked. Life is what it is. People are frequently knocked down. Individuals return. Simply adds to the resurrection’s awesomeness.
The 23-year-old boldly forecasted that he would return to full strength at some point in the 2023 campaign.
I can say with certainty that I don’t fear the procedure. I believe I was the first time, he remarked. I would have been lying to you if I had said I wasn’t. However, I’ve since gone through it. It seems like something I could certainly overcome.
2020 saw the cancellation of all minor league competition owing to the COVID-19 epidemic, which prevented Lewis from participating in any games. He suffered his first ACL tear right before he was ready for 2021.
After recovering fully for the shortened spring training following the lockout, Lewis was called up for his major league debut on May 6 following a finger injury sustained by Carlos Correa.
When Correa returned from an outstanding 11-game debut, Lewis was moved back down to Triple-A St.
Paul for regular time at shortstop, much to the dismay of both Twins fans and possibly his teammates as well. In 39 at-bats, he batted.308, tallying four doubles, two home runs, five RBIs, and five runs scored.
Eleven days later, Lewis was called back up because they thought his bat was too good to pass up and they could employ his talent somewhere else. However, he was injured again.
Aiding the group in winning. Whatever needs to be done. First and foremost, I play ball. I am not a guy who brags about being a shortstop. stated Lewis.
I want to be a shortstop. Going forward, I believe that’s the role I can excel in the most. I have said that from the beginning. I adored shortstops like Correa, Derek Jeter, and others growing up.
I would therefore respond “shortstop” if you were to ask me, in all honesty, what your position is. But I’m a baseball player.
Not only would Lewis have had extra time to excel at shortstop, but Correa missed seven more games after being placed on the COVID-19 list shortly after.
I would fully expect him to do it again right now, and I’m going to give him a lot of credit for what he just did, manager Rocco Baldelli said, expressing no remorse for starting Lewis in center field. Yes, a full year has passed.
Indeed, it has been a while, and it’s one of those things where it’s nearly hard to accept that it will happen once more. However, I completely anticipate that he will return and carry out his previous actions.
