After getting an MRI on Monday morning, Twins slugger Royce Lewis told reporters at Spring Training that his left hamstring strain is "not even close" in severity to the right quad injury he sustained on Opening Day a year ago.
The Twins describe the hamstring strain as "moderate," but it's serious enough for Lewis not to be ready by Opening Day, which comes a week from Thursday at St. Louis. They're not certain how long they will keep Lewis on the injured list, but it will be a matter of weeks.
The news is good, in that it's not as bad as it could be. Lewis hobbled noticeably as he ran to first base out of the box in the second inning Sunday. The moment resembled Opening Day a year ago against the Royals when he strained his quad sprinting from second to third at Kauffman Stadium. He ended up missing two months.
Lewis, whose career high in games played is 82, has an extensive injury history in his young career, including the quad, an adductor strain late in '24, and two separate ACL operations in 2021-22.
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli called it "emotional and disappointing" that he is injured, but that Lewis is familiar with the mental and physical challenges of coming back from an injury. Clues as to how long it'll take for him to resume play already are coming in, and not just from medical film.
"We'll know more in a few days," Baldelli said as quoted by the Minnesota Star Tribune. "We'll know a lot, actually, by how he’s moving around and what he’s capable of doing in the coming weeks."
It's a bummer for fans who want to see Lewis play, but it's an even bigger bummer for the Twins, who have lost one of their top players, a key to getting them back to the playoffs. Baldelli has spoken frequently about how important it was to get Lewis, Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton on the field at the same time.
Deflating, but in the short term, it's not the end of the season.
The Twins have several options for third base — notably, Brooks Lee, José Miranda and Willi Castro. Lee, who has been playing mostly at second base and appeared to be the leader to start there Opening Day, started at third against the Pirates in a Grapefruit League game. Third could be Lee's best position defensively in the majors.
Miranda started at first base on Monday but has extensive experience at third. Miranda began the season hot at the plate in 2024, but was not effective after injuring his back in July. He also got hit in the head with a pitch in the same month.
He's had an encouraging Grapefruit League so far. Miranda came into action Monday batting .286/.357/.400 with a home run and a double in 35 spring at-bats. If he's healthy, and he appears to be, Miranda can be a force at the plate. Not as formidable as Lewis at his best, but better than adequate as a fill-in. Miranda also figures to play first base with free-agent acquisition Ty France getting a lot of time there. Both are an option at DH as well.
Castro has been a favorite of Baldelli's because of his ability to play nearly any position -- infield or outfield. His versatility helps a lot in this case, because Lewis injury has a domino effect on the entire roster.
Stuck in a deep slump throughout 2024, Edouard Julien has been getting solid results in spring play. Even better than his slash line, he's hitting the ball much harder (92.2 mph with .184 isolated power) than he did in '24. The bad news with Julien: He's got a 31.3% swing-and-miss rate, and a 39.3% hard-hit rate. The former is too high (though not unmanageable) and the latter is not high enough. By a lot.
It's possible the Twins wanted Julien to get more time to get right at Class AAA St. Paul, but the Lewis injury (plus Julien's solid spring) might push them to put him on the roster, if not in the lineup Opening Day.
The impressive spring of rookie Mickey Gasper, who can play second base, first base and catcher, also mitigates what the Twins could do with Lewis' roster spot. Austin Martin doesn't practice much at second base, but his presence on the Opening Day roster as an outfielder might allow Baldelli to use others to cover the infield.
So there it is. Lewis is out, at least for a few weeks, but probably not as many as eight weeks. The Twins have enough depth right now to fill in with players who are better than league average. Correa and Buxton are still healthy (someone knock on wood). Bring on Opening Day. Soon?