CINCINNATI — When an MLB organization selects the No. 1 player, visions of the player becoming a cornerstone immediately arise as the franchise dreams of better days than those spent piling up losses en route to the top spot.
Six years after hearing his name called first in the 2017 draft, Royce Lewis is finally getting his wish for a Twins team poised to win the American League Central. The fictional destination – Lewis, who will play at number one in October – may have been expected all along.
But the trip was anything but ordinary for the 24-year-old rookie. In his early years in pro ball, Lewis followed like many high-profile first-round picks out of high school. He took time to adjust and develop at each level of the minors, eventually reaching Double-A shortly after his 20th birthday.
He finished 2019 on a high note, as the potential Arizona Fall League MVP, and brought significant momentum into the winter as one of baseball’s best prospects.
Then, when the 2020 minor league season was canceled due to the pandemic, Lewis’ progression to the majors was interrupted. Ready and eager to continue his development in spring training in 2021, Lewis’ trajectory took another sharp turn when he suffered a torn ACL in late February that put him on the shelf for his entire rookie season.
It took just 24 minor league games into early 2022 before he got the long-awaited call-up, though the excitement of his arrival was cut short when the unthinkable happened: another ACL tear in the same right knee. Two years, two season-ending surgeries – just as his big league career was supposed to be on the rise. While his on-field abilities were always exciting, Lewis was particularly impressed by the relentlessly positive attitude of the Twins organization and those around him to come back from the same devastating injury twice.
That he was able to overcome the time of adversity and injury was an achievement in itself, and one that will continue to be huge as he establishes himself in the everyday lineup.
