Injury-prone Twins hitter who has terrorized Guardians avoids serious spring injury

Not much has gone right for the Minnesota Twins this spring. First they lost starting pitcher Pablo López to a season-ending arm injury before also losing fellow pitcher David Festa to an injury that could keep him out for Opening Day. 

But they finally got some good news on Friday, as infielder Royce Lewis had an MRI come back clean after he experienced some tightness in his right side while running the bases. 

Injuries have been a huge part of Lewis’ tenure with the Twins, as he broke out in 2023 but hasn’t done much of anything since thanks to a variety of injuries that have limited him to 188 games over the past two seasons. 

Guardians killer Royce Lewis avoids serious spring training injury 

That 2023 season made it seem like Lewis was going to be a thorn in the Guardians’ side for  the foreseeable future. 

Along with hitting .309 with 15 home runs in just 58 games in the regular season that year, Lewis slugged four home runs in six games for the Twins in the postseason. 

While Lewis hit just .256 in 10 games against the Guardians that regular season, he crushed four home runs against Cleveland in that time frame, which was the most that he hit against any team. 

In the time since that season, Lewis has spent time on the injured list with an oblique strain, two quad strains, two hamstring strains and an adductor strain. 

In other words, it’s been two years of starts and stops for him, which has been a big factor as to why the Twins have struggled to compete in the AL Central in that time frame. 

In total, Lewis has slashed .260/.313/.490 with six home runs and 24 RBI in 30 games in his career against the Guardians, which are the second-best numbers he’s posted against any team in his career behind only the White Sox. 

And while he’s meant a ton to the Twins in every season that he's played in, he’s even more important to them this year due to the fact the Twins have spent the past eight months tearing down their roster.

There’s still some talent there in the form of Lewis, outfielder Byron Buxton and starting pitcher Joe Ryan, but they’re largely relying on unproven talent to fill some key holes on their roster. 

Lewis is a proven talent and proven postseason performer, but has yet to do anything to prove that he can stand up to the rigor of a full 162-game MLB season. 

While the news the Twins got on his status was still good, it was a reminder of how quickly things can change.