The Minnesota Twins get star third baseman Royce Lewis back in the big league lineup for a series against the New York Yankees starting Tuesday. He has missed all but one game for the big-league club this year, and much has taken place in his absence. When Rocco Baldelli wrote out his lineup card on Mar. 28 against Cole Ragans and the Kansas City Royals, Royce Lewis saw his name on an Opening Day slate for the first time as a big-leaguer. Following a historic second half last season and a scintillating set of contributions during the Twins’ postseason run, fans were excited to see the erstwhile top prospect deliver a full season of brilliance. He homered during his first at-bat, because what else would he do? Then he singled during his second at-bat, and it appeared as though he would have a 162-game hitting streak and break all sorts of Major League Baseball records. Unfortunately, when Carlos Correa doubled right after that second hit, Lewis came up lame after suffering what was revealed to be a severe quad injury. Now, 58 games later, he’s back. A lot has happened, but what, exactly, has he missed? After winning on Opening Day, Minnesota went 6-13 over the course of their next 19 contests. With Stephen Vogt’s Cleveland Guardians starting the year hot, Baldelli’s Twins found themselves in an eight-game hole in the American League Central. Kyle Farmer made his greatest contribution of the season to his teammates in the form of a processed piece of meat that became part of a run-scoring celebration and sparked a 12-game winning streak. Even beyond that string being snapped, the tangy treat lives on. Facing the same Yankees he will return against, Minnesota couldn’t exorcise previous demons and were swept at Target Field in a three-game set in which they scored one total run. After taking the season series in 2023, evening the score to the tune of a sweep at Yankee Stadium would be sweet vindication. José Miranda has logged the majority of the innings at the hot corner in Lewis’s absence. He has been among the Twins’ better hitters over the past month, even if he still isn’t hitting the ball very hard. Both Farmer and Willi Castro have manned the hot corner, too, and the former isn’t a great reality, given his paltry 52 OPS+ on the season. Castro has graded out as the best defender at third base, registering a pair of Defensive Runs Saved and coming out on the right side of average via Statcast’s Outs Above Average (OAA), too. On the flip side, while he hasn’t been negative by DRS, Miranda has been worth -3 OAA, and that’s not ideal when it’s considered a better defensive fit for him than first base. The Twins rank 11th and 15th by DRS and OAA at third base, respectively, this season. Lewis is a better athlete and has a higher defensive ceiling than either, they should be able to inch their way back up the leaderboard. Bases-loaded situations have again been problematic (.490 OPS) for Minnesota, and no one succeeded to a grander level than Lewis did a season ago. He should have plenty of opportunities to see what sort of encore he can come up with in the year ahead, but the lineup needs him in those spots more than ever. Similar to Byron Buxton being unavailable in center field or Carlos Correa not able to play shortstop, playing without Lewis has made the team feel incomplete and patchwork all season. It doesn’t matter that he’ll turn just 25 years old on Wednesday, or that he has fewer than 100 big-league games under his belt. When Baldelli is filling out a lineup card, Lewis’s name should always be on it, and it’s good to have that ability once again. Here’s hoping that this time, the clean bill of health remains the rest of the way.
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