Twins already lose 1 key player to significant injury

A look at a Twins logo at Target Field. Photo taken
8/24/16 by Terry Foote/Wikimedia via CC BY-SA 4.0

The Minnesota Twins are loaded up with plenty of talent, but that talent has not been able to consistently stay on the field in recent years. That trend already re-emerged on Saturday.

Twins president Derek Falvey announced Saturday that shortstop Royce Lewis suffered a “severe” quad strain while running the bases on Opening Day. Lewis will miss at least a month due to the injury, and Falvey made it sound like it was likely to take even longer than that before Lewis is actually ready to play again.

It’s a “severe quad strain” for Royce Lewis, according to Derek Falvey. He’s going to need a month of pure recovery before the Twins even have a better sense of how much more recovery he’ll need at that point before starting his buildup back into playing.

— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) March 30, 2024

The Twins were definitely hoping the injury bug would at least wait a while before striking, but they had no such luck. The first overall pick in the 2017 draft, Lewis endured two ACL tears in 2021 and 2022, one in each knee. He was able to recover and finally make an impact at the MLB level last year, hitting .309 with 15 home runs in just 58 games.

Lewis was expected to be a major part of the Minnesota offense this year, but he is now out until at least May, in all likelihood. The Twins might argue they have already been hit hard by the injury bug, but if they hadn’t before, they have been now.