The Twins announced Sunday that third baseman Royce Lewis has been placed on the injured list, retroactive to June 14, due to a hamstring strain. Outfielder DaShawn Keirsey Jr. has been recalled from Triple-A to take his roster spot.
Lewis, the oft-injured former No. 1 overall pick, is incredibly talented, but is having a rough 2025. He started the season on the injured list with a left hamstring injury. Yes, the same hamstring that is injured right now and the same one that cost him a lot of time in 2023. He’s also had multiple torn ACLs along with oblique, quad and other knee injuries throughout his career.
In 30 games this season, Lewis is hitting .202/.282/.303 (64 OPS+) with two homers, nine RBI and 0.1 WAR. Before this season, Lewis had played just about one full season spread across three years. In his 152 career games from 2022-24, Lewis hit .268/.327/.497 (126 OPS+) with 27 doubles, 33 homers, 104 RBI, 81 runs and 3.4 WAR. So we know there’s a talented player in there, he just hasn’t shown it to this point in 2025.
Meanwhile, the Twins are struggling. They’ve lost seven of their last nine games and have fallen to nine games behind the Tigers in the AL Central. The Twins do hold the final wild-card spot in the American League (+100 to make the playoffs, per Caesars), but the Mariners and Guardians are only half a game back with the Red Sox one game away and the Rangers 1 ½ back. The Royals and Angels are 2 ½ back. Yeah, it’s crowded.
Lewis hasn’t given the Twins much this year, but he has the type of talent that he could be seen as possible avenue to turn things around. If he gets hot, that’s a major spark. Instead, he’ll be dealing with another hamstring injury for the next few weeks.