Another View
After spending the last two off-seasons rehabbing from an injury, Royce Lewis this off-season was able to enjoy life once again.
“I had a lot of fun,” Lewis told me at the Minnesota Twins annual media luncheon last month. “I got recently engaged [to Samantha Hobart]. It’s been great to be spending time with my family, and getting after it in the gym and in the cages.
“So, everything’s been truly special. I’m ready to get going,” said Lewis.
The Minnesota Twins infielder’s 2023 stat line: .309 batting average, .548 slugging percentage, 15 home runs and 52 RBI in 58 games played. And he homered in his first-ever postseason at-bat, a two-run blast.
The 6-0 Lewis played a huge role in the Twins’ 2023 success. Despite his limited MLB experience, he played like a seasoned veteran, especially at the plate. “He was so exceptional last year,” said Twins Manager Rocco Baldelli.
Everyone is hoping for a full season from Lewis, who missed about a fourth of last year due to injuries. When he came back, Lewis helped push the Twins to the Central Division title and into the second round of the playoffs.
“It was so special, especially the young guys like myself coming up and being a part of a successful team,” Lewis recalled. “We look to continue their success.”
Added Baldelli, “He has so much ability…and he is going to win games for us with that ability.”
Lewis last season played third base, shortstop, and saw time at first base. He impressed everyone with his ever-present optimism and positive attitude.
“I think that helped him get through the injuries that he dealt with,” said Baldelli on Lewis, who missed all of 2021 with an ACL tear in his right knee, and then tore the same ACL in May 2022 that sidelined him for the rest of that season. Last season Lewis also missed time with a strained left oblique (six weeks) and, the final two weeks of the regular season, with a strained left hamstring.
“My main goal, obviously, is to stay healthy just like everyone else,” said Lewis, the No. 1 overall pick in 2017.
“He’s a highly optimistic, positive young man no matter what’s going on,” observed Baldelli. “We play a lot of ball games, but he’s a very evenly-keeled but positive guy.”
Asked where he developed this approach to sports and life in general, Lewis said proudly, “My parents. They just instilled in me that you just got to live and enjoy life. They taught me how to do it the right way.
“I don’t try to act a certain way in front of other people” and in another way behind closed doors, he pointed out. “I’m just the same kind of guy, same kind of kid.”
Surmised Baldelli on Lewis, “He needs to just continue to keep things as simple and as finely tuned and honed as possible.”
“I just love this game,” said Lewis. “I’ll do anything to be a part of it and around it.”