Depending on who you talk to, the Minnesota Twins season both began and ended on Opening Day.
That's a bit dramatic, but it felt that way in the moment as Twins fans watched Royce Lewis limp off the field in the third inning of the team's first game this year. A severe right quad strain was ruled to be the issue, an injury that will keep Lewis out of the lineup for at least a month.
Optimisically he won't be back until at least June with some predicting a return closer to the All-Star Break in July. Either way, the Twins will need to navigate the forseeable future without one of their best players, as all attention with Lewis turns toward how he can get healthy and remain so for the rest of the season.
That last bit is huge, because for as much hype and lore as there's already been around Lewis he's only played in 71 games. This latest setback is colored by that context, and the latest update seems to indicate we're going to need to wait a while before he starts adding to that total.
Royce Lewis gives a less than ideal update on his quad strain
Before the Twins home opener on Thursday, Lewis spoke with reporters and gave an update on his quad strain that doesn't exactly sounds like good news.
"I think it's a little bit more severe than . They're not really telling me exactly what it is because I feel like whatever they tell me, I'm gonna rush it either way, so that's where we're at," Lewis said. "I'm just waiting to hear more honestly today ... we're gonna find out some more information about what this actually looks like."
Hearing that the strain is 'more severe' than what we were initially told doesn't suggest that the timeline for getting Lewis back has shrunk at all. It's also a little concerning that the Twins seem to be withholding information from Lewis, especially given how the team has handled injuries and recovery in the past.
Then again, we sort of knew that Lewis was going to be out for at least a month if not more. There was hope that he'd be able to return sooner, or at least not be out until July, but all of that still seems to be up in the air.
#MNTwins Royce Lewis injury update: pic.twitter.com/KPhQBOTqrX
— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) April 4, 2024
Getting Lewis back healthy is the key, though, not getting him back soon. Minnesota is off to a so-so start to the year but things are nowhere near dire enough to consider rushing Lewis back. If anything, he can be commended for wanting to get back into the mix so much that the team seems to be essentially acting as his get-back coach, but it does no good to have him return only to hit the IL shortly thereafter.
That's what happened last year, as Lewis hit the IL in July after making his triumphant return in May, only to go back on the injured list in September. He didn't neccesarily rush himself back, but the stop-and-go nature of his career is becoming a trend we'd all like to see bucked.