Royce Lewis could be back with the Twins by June 1
Royce Lewis could find himself in the middle of a slumping Minnesota Twins lineup within three weeks.
The Twins announced Sunday that Lewis, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 MLB Draft, will begin a rehab assignment at Double-A Wichita on Thursday. The idea is to get him going at Double-A before moving him up to Triple-A.
MLB rules stipulate that a rehab assignment can't last longer than 20 days, so the Twins will have to decide by June 1 if they're going to bring Lewis up to the big leagues or keep him at Triple-A St. Paul.
Lewis is on his way back from a second ACL tear in a span of 15 months and he's ahead of schedule compared to the 12-13 month timeline the Twins believed he would need when he underwent surgery in June 2022.
Last year, Lewis hit .313/.405/.534 with five homers and 12 stolen bases in 34 games with the St. Paul Saints before getting the call to the Twins and going 12-for-40 (.300) with two homers in 12 games before suffering his second ACL tear.
If Lewis does get promoted to the Twins at the beginning of June, the question will be how manager Rocco Baldelli deploys him. Lewis will be playing shortstop and third base during the rehab assignment, and those positions with the Twins are currently filled by Carlos Correa and Jose Miranda. And with Byron Buxton at designated hitter, the Twins probably need to get creative if they hope to find a spot for Lewis in the lineup and on the field.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.