Will Twins Play Royce Lewis at 3rd Base or Shortstop in St. Paul?

By    |  
Updated:
Photo: Katherine Ramirez - Frisco RoughRiders

In case you haven’t heard, former #1 overall draft pick, Royce Lewis, is on the verge from returning to the Minnesota Twins lineup, after recovering from his second career torn ACL, suffered last year around this time.

Royce Lewis’ rehab assignment moves to AAA-St. Paul

Lewis started a rehab assignment at AA-Wichita last week (May 11). After a rough 1st game back, the 23-year-old rebounded with a 2-for-3 performance two nights later. That must have been enough for the Twins because Royce Lewis is being called up to AAA-St. Paul to see the rest of his rehab assignment through.

Ironically enough, Lewis is eligible to re-join the Minnesota Twins active roster on the exact same day he was injured last season, May 29. The Twins are in first place in the AL Central and won’t be in any hurry to push Royce into the big league lineup.

With that being said — should Lewis prove he is healthy and too good for Triple-A over the next two weeks — Falvine could call him up and play him at 3rd base, especially after Jose Miranda was sent down last week.

Who plays 3rd base in St. Paul?

That’s another thing to watch for, while Lewis is in St. Paul. With Brooks Lee already down in Wichita, Royce split his two games with the Wind Surge between 3rd and SS. Does that continue in St. Paul? Or, with Miranda down there too, does he stick to mostly shortstop?

The Saints have Monday off. But when play opens back up on Tuesday, we’ll see who is written in at 3rd base. Even if Lewis does play shortstop tomorrow, how often is he playing 3rd base through the rest of his rehab stint?

If the Twins plan on getting Lewis up to the big leagues as soon as possible, I’d imagine they want to get him as many reps possible at the position he would play while up there. Obviously, Carlos Correa is the team’s shortstop, at least for now.

But if Falvine plans to take things slow with Royce’s return to professional baseball, then it would make more sense to stretch him out at shortstop, while simultaneously getting Jose Miranda right again at 3rd base.

No matter, it appears Royce Lewis’ rehab continues to go really well and that’s by far the most important part of his move up to St. Paul. But after Royce played so well in his short MLB stint last year, it’s easy to imagine how effective he might be with Carlos Correa right next to him both in the field and batting order.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

Mentioned in this article:

More About: