Twins top prospect Royce Lewis out for the season with torn ACL
Royce Lewis had a chance to make his major league debut this year, but he'll miss the entire season after surgery to repair a torn ACL.
The Minnesota Twins have high hope for the 2021 season, coming off back-to-back AL Central titles. There was a chance shortstop Royce Lewis, the No. 1 overall pick in 2017, a top 20 prospect in baseball and the Twins’ No. 1 prospect (as ranked by MLB.com) would make his major league debut at some point in 2021.
But it will not be. According to multiple reports, Lewis has been diagnosed with a torn ACL in his right knee and he’ll miss the entire season.
Lewis apparently had some soreness in his knee during offseason workouts at home in Texas. An MRI when he arrived in Fort Myers revealed the torn ACL. Surgery is scheduled for Friday back in the Twin Cities.
With the pandemic eliminating the 2020 minor league season, Lewis will now miss two full seasons of action. He reached Double-A in 2019, with a combined slash-line of .236/.290/.371 with 12 home runs, 49 RBI and 22 stolen bases over 566 plate appearances between High-A and Double-A that season. In the Arizona Fall League in 2019, Lewis hit .353/.411/.565 with three home runs, 20 RBI, nine doubles and five steals over 95 plate appearances on his way to league MVP.
Still only approaching 22 years old (June 5), Lewis’ development is stalled but not complete. A torn ACL is not a death knell for his career, or a sign he’ll never fulfill his potential. But it is a setback, and a buzzkill. Twins fans would’ve had a chance to see him across the river with the St. Paul Saints in Triple-A this year, if not also at Target Field at some point too. Now all of that is postponed to at least 2022. And the crowd that says prospects should not be hung onto if there’s a big trade to be made, assuming the Twins could’ve made a deal for someone like Blake Snell this offseason, can ramp up again.
