SI:AM | MLB’s Most Star-Crossed Slugger Injured Again

The oft-injured Royce Lewis left the Twins’ game Tuesday with a hurt groin.

Lewis exited the Twins game against the Detroit Tigers with an apparent injury. / Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’m really excited for all the day baseball on the Fourth. 

In today’s SI:AM: 

🏈 NFC’s most underrated
🇺🇸 Fire Gregg
👨‍⚖️ How Judge is breaking baseball

“Not very optimistic”

When he’s on the field, Minnesota Twins infielder Royce Lewis is one of the best players in the major leagues. The issue is, he spends more time on the injured list than in the lineup. And now he’s dealing with another injury. 

Lewis’s troubles began when he tore his right ACL in February 2021. He missed that entire season but returned with a vengeance the following year and was quickly promoted to the majors, making his MLB debut on May 6, 2022. He played just 12 games before tearing the same ACL again while making a leaping catch in center. That injury kept him sidelined for a full year until he finally returned to the majors on May 29, 2023. But a couple of less significant injuries (an oblique strain in July and a hamstring strain in September) caused him to miss more time later in the season. He ended up playing in 58 games. 

This year, Lewis was on the Opening Day roster for the first time in his career. But his season came to a screeching halt in the third inning of the Twins’ first game when he pulled up with a quad injury while running the bases. That game was the pinnacle of the Royce Lewis experience: a home run in the first inning and an injury two innings later. 

Lewis returned to the lineup on June 4, hitting a solo homer that accounted for Minnesota’s only run in a 5–1 loss to the New York Yankees. He was one of the best hitters in baseball in June, becoming one of just five players to hit at least nine home runs last month. (The others are Anthony Santander, Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani and Jackson Merrill.)

But now Lewis is potentially facing another trip to the injured list. He was hurt in the bottom of the third inning when he legged out an RBI double. He stayed in the game until he was removed in the top of the sixth. 

The Twins are calling Lewis’s injury a groin strain. He will have an MRI and other tests to determine the severity of the problem, but Lewis didn’t sound hopeful when addressing reporters after the game. 

“This is out of my control. I have no idea. But probably not very optimistic, to be honest with you,” Lewis said. “I’m praying, but it’s usually always horrible news.”

If Lewis misses any significant time, it’ll be another devastating setback in what has been a brutal start to his career. Injuries have limited him to just 93 games in three seasons. But in those 93 games, Lewis has batted .302 with a .942 OPS and 27 home runs. His 27 homers in 93 games equate to 47 homers in a full 162-game season. His .942 OPS ranks fourth in the majors over the past three seasons (among players who played at least 10 games), behind only Judge, Ohtani and Yordan Alvarez. Lewis has been worth 3.8 WAR in his career, which equates to 6.6 WAR over the course of a full season. For context, Freddie Freeman ranked eighth in the majors last season with 6.5 WAR. 

The troubling thing about Lewis’s injury history is that he’s had such a wide variety of ailments. It would be one thing if he had a bum knee or a pesky shoulder that he could focus on strengthening, but it’s worrisome that he seems prone to injuries throughout the lower half of his body. He’s still only 25, so in theory there’s time for him to get his body right and have a productive major league career. 

The more pressing issue is what his latest injury could mean for the Twins this season. Minnesota is currently 48–37, six games behind the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central race and holding onto the second AL wild card spot. It’ll be a pressure-packed final half of the season for the Twins even if Lewis is available. Without him? They could be in real trouble. 

Judge is on a tear, playing the best baseball of his career for the Yankees this season. / Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

The best of Sports Illustrated

• Michael Rosenberg didn’t mince words in his column about USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter.

• Aaron Judge has somehow been better than ever this season. Tom Verducci explains the seven ways he’s been able to elevate his game.

• Connor Orr picked the most underrated player on each team in the NFC.

• The Aces-Fever game in Las Vegas drew the WNBA’s largest crowd in 25 years.

• Surprise, surprise. LeBron James will re-sign with the Lakers.

• Shohei Ohtani will not participate in the home run derby this year.

• Sergio Garcia got upset over a slow play warning at his British Open qualifier and ultimately failed to secure a spot in the tournament.

The top five…

… things I saw yesterday: 

5. Shohei Ohtani’s 27th home run of the season. 
4. Chennedy Carter’s clutch sequence at the end of the Sky’s win over the Dream.
3. Kyle Schwarber’s cool gesture for Phillies rookie Michael Mercado.
2. The A’s fan who waved a giant “SELL” flag directly behind the plate. 
1. Turkey goalkeeper Mert Günok’s stunning save in the final seconds of his team’s win over Austria.