11:58PM: Lewis’ quad strain is “severe,” as Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey told reporters (including Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press). The infielder will be shut down for a month and then re-evaluated, so it doesn’t look like Lewis will be back in the majors until mid-May at the absolute earliest.
10:27AM: The Twins have officially placed Lewis on the 10-day IL and called up Martin. Lewis’ injury is described as a right quad strain, with a retroactive IL placement of March 29.
9:09AM: Royce Lewis had to make an early exit from the Twins’ opener due to a quad injury, and the problem is severe enough that the third baseman will be placed on the injured list, according to La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune (X link). Former top prospect Austin Martin is being called up to take Lewis’ spot on the active roster, and Martin will be making his MLB debut whenever he appears in his first game.
It remains to be seen how serious the quad problem might be, yet it represents yet another injury setback in Lewis’ young career. Since selected as the first overall pick of the 2017 draft, Lewis has been limited to 350 career minor league games and 71 regular-season big league games, primarily due to two right ACL tears. Between the pandemic-canceled 2020 minor league season and the first of those torn ACLs, Lewis didn’t play a single game over the 2020-21 seasons.
There is little question that Lewis is ready for prime time, given how he has torn up both Triple-A pitching and (in limited fashion) MLB opposition since returning to action in 2022. Lewis has hit .313/.369/.564 with 18 homers over his 282 plate appearances in the Show, and he was also a force during Minnesota’s playoff run last October. The Twins installed Lewis into the everyday third base job and were excited to see what he could do over the course of a full season, and this dream could still naturally be reached if this IL stint ends up being relatively minor.
Utilitymen Kyle Farmer and Willi Castro figure to handle most of the third base time while Lewis is sidelined, and Martin figures to add some multi-positional depth in his first time on a Major League roster. Martin has played shortstop, second base, center field, and left field over his three minor league seasons, and is considered at least a competent defender at any of his positions.
Martin shares some similarities with Lewis as a former high draft pick whose career has been hampered by injury. The Blue Jays selected Martin fifth overall in the 2020 draft, but then dealt Martin and Simeon Woods Richardson to Minnesota for Jose Berrios at the 2021 trade deadline. Martin has played in 159 games in the Twins’ farm system over the last two years, as pair of elbow sprains limited his playing time and perhaps his ability to generate power. A lack of slugging has undermined Martin’s otherwise impressive ability to make contact and draw walks, as he has hit .263/.387/.405 over 252 PA at the Triple-A level.
Between his injuries and limited production in the minors, Martin went from being a top-25 prospect in 2021 to further down top-100 rankings in 2022, to off the pundits’ radars entirely in the last two years of preseason evaluations. While Martin’s ceiling seems to have been lowered, the 25-year-old seems to be on pace to at least be a utilityman in the majors. If he can keep making contact and getting on base, this skillset combined with a versatile defensive profile makes Martin potentially a very useful player going forward.
phillies012tg
Lmao of course
Very Barry
Royce Lewis??? Injured List???? What a shocker.
phillies012tg
Just chalk the season already it’s done
bob9988 2
Wrong Austin Martin
linked.
angryyankeesfan1
I think they mean this one. baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=mar…
Roidville Slugger
I think they meant this one astonmartin.com/en-us/
JRamHOF
Water is wet. Thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery
philliesphan77
A glass of water would help him more than thoughts and prayers.
Uhh ok
cman
and out of the wood pile come screaming the atheists. lol. They get so angry it’s hilarious. Like cockroaches scurrying out from underneath the trash pile just because someone uttered the phrase “thoughts and prayers.” If he had said he prayed to satan would that make it better fo you wittle boy.
JRamHOF
“I hope he recovers quickly” – you’re welcome, atheists!
solaris602
Again.
Bob Sacamano 310
Didn’t last long
Canuckleball
Seems strange to call up Martin. He’s done little in the minors to this point and didn’t do anything in spring training.
José Miranda would have seemed a better choice. He was good at the major league level a couple seasons ago, and he did ok during spring training. Is Miranda hurt?
tonyhoag
The twins don’t view him as 3B anymore. He was out most of 23 with shoulder injury and 22 he played mostly at 1B
Canuckleball
He did spend more time at 1st in ’22, but he spent 305 of his 307 innings at 3rd last year and posted a 0 DRS so he wasn’t exactly terrible.
You may well be right that they no longer view him as a 3rd basemen. It’s just that Martin’s numbers seem so lackluster, even in the minors.
ohyeadam
Silver lining is Twins have two MLB quality options on the roster already with Farmer and Castro
ForDoingNothing
Miranda is not healthy right now.
SODOMOJO
Man I completely overlooked that name. Blast from the past! At one point I thought that kid was going to be a beast. Interesting to discover that he has been a primary 1B recently. Thanks for the info
bleacherguy714
Sad. This guy has so much raw talent and rakes when he is in! Guy has Troy Tulowitzki and Corey Seager talent and unfortunately shares their injury proneness luck!!
Kershaw'sRightArm
Miranda plays a horrible 3rd
solaris602
The Rolls Royce is in the shop…..again! Looks like we’ll need to drive the Aston Martin for the time being.
Jesse Chavez enthusiast
Jeez this guy can’t catch a break. He’s been incredible when he actually plays but he doesn’t get to play often.
CaseyAbell
Everybody was expecting an injury for Lewis. But the first game of the season? I guess he just wanted to get it over with in a hurry.
Farmer will end up playing a lot. MLBTR has griped about how the Twins were paying him too much. Maybe the Twins knew what they had in Lewis, everybody’s favorite IL candidate.
Big whiffa
Twins need 9 dh and robot fielders
Trafficked
Buxton to IL tomorrow
rdiddy75
Shocked they didn’t give Brooks Lee a shot.
wjf010
I’m not. brooks Lee is on the St Paul injured list.
rdiddy75
Thank you for the correction did not know.
martras
Brooks Lee was miserable at AAA last year, hasn’t proven any ability to hit from the right side, and he isn’t on the 40 man. That’s even if he wasn’t hurt.
Brooks Lee profiles as maybe a utility player to mediocre starting infielder. Mediocre power, doesn’t walk a lot, platoon candidate against LHP, can’t run.
MC Tim C
Impressive how you can be wrong about so much in such a short post.
cman
wow what a load of bull. He was 22 years old last year and played almost the entire season at AA Wichita where he had a great season. He got called up to AAA for 38 games towards the end of the season and did alright, not great.
martras
wRC+ 78 at AAA. That’s not “alright” That’s not close to alright. That’s rough for a top prospect, and it’s part of why his stock fell through the floor across the league.
Twins fans are delusional on Brooks Lee. Absolutely delusional. It’s not like there’s no hope Lee turns into a solid MLB player, but the chance’s he’s a star are long indeed.
Baseballtradevalues +50 last year mid-season. +25 now.
This one belongs to the Reds
Every time I saw a Bond movie, I wanted an Austin Martin with all those extras. It would help with some of the drivers on the road.
SODOMOJO
GD I knew that adp was too good to be true. Who else is picking up leadoff hitting Rendon? Lol
Gwynning
I can garage my Austin Martin for now, I Final-Picked (!) a SS eligible Merrill-cedes Benz. Shifting Elly to 3rd.
SODOMOJO
Yeah man that dual eligibility really topped off Ellys appeal. You know he’s gonna hit the ball hard, you know he’s gonna steal bases and you can move him around
Gwynning
With that J-Rod type hype for superstardom?!? No jinx; I sure hope so for Elly! GL here in ’24 SODO
RichieAllenRules
Mondesi 2.0
Human Being
You can buy almost three Aston Martin’s for the league minimum salary.
martras
A lot more than 3 used for a couple years. Might cost you league minimum to keep them on the road, though, hahaha.
cmessick2080
Minnesota needs to hurry up and get rid of Mr. Glass.
martras
You’ll have to be more specific… which one?
Buxton?
Kepler?
Larnach?
Lewis?
They already shed Polanco, Garver, Donaldson and Sano in recent years, haha.
Hammerin' Hank
Yeah trade him when his value is at its lowest, that’s right.
okinnitram
Who had opening day on the Lewis IL poll?
Ignorant Son-of-a-b
Royce looked a little chunky in the playoffs ….hope he slimmed down some for the start of the new season.
ohyeadam
Severe?! A month at least?! $hit
Baldellisucks
Buxton 2.0
Johnny utah
So much talent betw royce & buxton
Neither can ever stay healthy
cman
Royce has more talent than Buxton. Buxton can’t hit every other season it seems.
30 Parks
Royce Buxton.
Dumpster Divin Theo
Uh oh spaghetti