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10:27AM: The Twins have formally positioned Lewis on the 10-day IL and referred to as up Martin. Lewis’ harm is described without any consideration quad pressure, with a retroactive IL placement of March 29.
9:09AM: Royce Lewis needed to make an early exit from the Twins’ opener on account of a quad harm, and the issue is extreme sufficient that the third baseman will likely be positioned on the injured checklist, in accordance with La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune (X hyperlink). Former high prospect Austin Martin is being referred to as as much as take Lewis’ spot on the energetic roster, and Martin will likely be making his MLB debut at any time when he seems in his first sport.
It stays to be seen how severe the quad drawback is perhaps, but it represents yet one more harm setback in Lewis’ younger profession. Since chosen as the primary general decide of the 2017 draft, Lewis has been restricted to 350 profession minor league video games and 71 regular-season large league video games, primarily on account of two proper ACL tears. Between the pandemic-canceled 2020 minor league season and the primary of these torn ACLs, Lewis didn’t play a single sport over the 2020-21 seasons.
There may be little query that Lewis is prepared for prime time, given how he has torn up each Triple-A pitching and (in restricted style) MLB opposition since returning to motion in 2022. Lewis has hit .313/.369/.564 with 18 homers over his 282 plate appearances within the Present, and he was additionally a pressure throughout Minnesota’s playoff run final October. The Twins put in Lewis into the on a regular basis third base job and had been excited to see what he may do over the course of a full season, and this dream may nonetheless naturally be reached if this IL stint finally ends up being comparatively minor.
Utilitymen Kyle Farmer and Willi Castro determine to deal with a lot of the third base time whereas Lewis is sidelined, and Martin figures so as to add some multi-positional depth in his first time on a Main League roster. Martin has performed shortstop, second base, heart subject, and left subject over his three minor league seasons, and is taken into account not less than a reliable defender at any of his positions.
Martin shares some similarities with Lewis as a former excessive draft decide whose profession has been hampered by harm. The Blue Jays chosen Martin fifth general within the 2020 draft, however then dealt Martin and Simeon Woods Richardson to Minnesota for Jose Berrios on the 2021 commerce deadline. Martin has performed in 159 video games within the Twins’ farm system during the last two years, as pair of elbow sprains restricted his enjoying time and maybe his capacity to generate energy. An absence of slugging has undermined Martin’s in any other case spectacular capacity to make contact and draw walks, as he has hit .263/.387/.405 over 252 PA on the Triple-A degree.
Between his accidents and restricted manufacturing within the minors, Martin went from being a top-25 prospect in 2021 to additional down top-100 rankings in 2022, to off the pundits’ radars totally within the final two years of preseason evaluations. Whereas Martin’s ceiling appears to have been lowered, the 25-year-old appears to be on tempo to not less than be a utilityman within the majors. If he can maintain making contact and getting on base, this skillset mixed with a flexible defensive profile makes Martin probably a really helpful participant going ahead.
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