On Sunday afternoon, Royce Lewis pounded the ball into the turf. He ran to first base like he will countless times during the 2025 season. For most players, this is a routine play. For Minnesota Twins fans, it’s an adventure.
Lewis pulled up midway to the bag and started hobbling like someone had shot him in the leg. The 25-year-old briefly talked with manager Rocco Baldelli and lead trainer Nick Paparesta, and Minnesota took him out of the game. Twins fans knew what was next. The team announced that Lewis had “a moderate left hamstring strain,” and they had ruled him out for Opening Day with no timetable for his return.
Monday’s development was something Twins fans have known too well with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2017 draft, who has missed 475 games since tearing his ACL for the first time in Feb. 2021. Lewis has been hurt before, and he’s come back looking like the charismatic superstar the Twins have needed for decades. But this injury came at the wrong time and could do more than impact his future on the field.
Lewis was a full-time major leaguer for the first time in 2024, and it didn’t go smoothly. After smacking a home run in his first at-bat on Opening Day, Lewis suffered a severe quad pull in his second at-bat and was out until June. He returned for a month and suffered a right adductor strain that put him on the shelf for another month. He struggled when he returned, hitting .207/.270/.350 with six home runs and 29 RBI over his final 58 games.
There were positives, like a stretch where he smashed nine home runs in 15 games in the middle of June. But they were outweighed by struggles on the field and turbulence off of it, including criticism from Twins shortstop Carlos Correa over his preparation for games late in the season.
Lewis didn’t do himself any favors. He went on a massive slump immediately after he proclaimed he “didn’t do slumps.” He responded to Correa’s criticism by saying it was on “the cheap guys” in the lineup to drive winning. These were the quotes that Twins fans remembered as the team blew a double-digit lead in the Wild Card standings.
Lewis was projected to make $2.3 million in his first year of arbitration. However, when the final numbers were exchanged, Lewis agreed to a $1.625 million contract.
Perhaps this was the motivation Lewis needed for a monster 2025. In December, The Athletic’s Dan Hayes revealed that he had changed his dietary habits and made an effort to “keep the body loose.”
“I’m back to being bouncy, electric, and not as tight,” Lewis said. “Just because I can do a bunch of power doesn’t mean I need to deadlift 600 pounds. I’m kind of going away from that and back to kind of what I used to do.”
Lewis was on the right track through the opening weeks of Spring Training. He hit .346/.469/.423 with three RBI and a stolen base in 32 plate appearances. Lewis had more walks (four) than strikeouts (two). He was still looking for his first home run of the spring, but most importantly, he was healthy — until that ground ball on Sunday afternoon.
But that’s just the on-the-field stuff. It also affects how Twins fans see Lewis.
The Twins are contenders in the AL Central, and Lewis’s season isn’t over. But it’s another gut punch to a fan base that has endured many since the 2023 season ended.
Blackouts. Payroll slashes. Prospective buyers bailing on bids to buy the team. You’re probably not alone if you can’t think of the last time you got excited over a piece of Twins news. But while Twins fans aren’t as nasty as the ones in New York or Boston, there’s nothing they can’t stand more than an injury-prone player.
Don’t believe me? Go look up any social media post containing Byron Buxton. Replies referring to him as “Mr. Glass” or begging the team to “put him in bubble wrap” are more prominent than likes. He’s one of the most talented players on the team but also one of the most polarizing because he’s often injured.
Even first-ballot Hall of Famer Joe Mauer has his detractors among this fan base because he wore down playing the game’s most demanding position.
Whether it be a curse or not, Twins fans lose their minds over a player who can’t stay off the injured list, which puts Lewis in an unfair position.
Lewis has done everything he can to prepare for the season and part of the fan base is ready to label him as “The Next Buxton” because of his injury history. It’s a situation that can be resolved by one big season, but he can’t do that unless he’s on the field.
Maybe Sunday’s injury is a speed bump for a takeoff later this summer. But for now, Lewis’s injury comes at the worst possible time.
