Per a report from Jon Morosi of MLB Community, the Twins will promote high prospect (and high general choose within the 2017 draft) Royce Lewis in the present day. He’ll probably take the roster spot of offseason signing Carlos Correa, who’s set to undergo a CT scan after clubhouse X-rays indicated a possible non-displaced fracture of his proper center finger — an harm not prone to maintain him out for a number of months however that may probably require an IL stint. Ought to Lewis discover his method into bench coach Jayce Tingler’s lineup (supervisor Rocco Baldelli is presently away from the group after testing constructive for COVID), the Twins shall be changing one 1-1 (the Astros chosen Correa first general within the 2012 draft, one spot forward of teammate Byron Buxton) with one other.
It isn’t clear whether or not Baldelli, Tingler, and Twins’ front-office duo Thad Levine and Derek Falvey intend to maintain Lewis within the majors after Correa returns — or, certainly, precisely how lengthy Correa shall be out — but it surely’s unlikely they’d have promoted him in the event that they didn’t count on him to play day by day, a minimum of till their $105.3MM man returns. Whereas he’s unlikely to take care of the identical degree of manufacturing in his first style of the massive leagues, Lewis’ red-hot begin to the yr within the Worldwide League could effectively point out that he’s prepared to fulfill the problem. By means of 107 plate appearances at Triple-A St. Paul, the 22-year-old is slashing a sturdy .310/.430/.563 with almost as many walks (17) as strikeouts (20).
How he’ll react to the promotion stays to be seen, in fact, however Twins followers may have excessive hopes for the membership’s first high general choose since Joe Mauer. Whereas Correa finally touchdown in Minnesota was shocking for quite a few causes, Lewis’ presence wasn’t close to the highest of the listing. Correa was and is broadly anticipated to choose out of the ultimate two years of his three-year assure to check the market once more this winter (although that might change ought to his finger harm show extra critical than preliminary stories counsel), and Lewis hadn’t performed an official sport since 2019 after the cancellation of the 2020 minor league season as a result of COVID pandemic and a February 2021 ACL tear that held him out of motion for one more full season. Certainly, that Lewis even opened the season in Triple-A was a bit shocking given he’d performed solely 33 video games above Excessive-A heading into the season.
Between the time missed and his comparatively pedestrian numbers previous to the ACL harm (he slashed a mixed .236/.290/.371 in 566 journeys to the plate between Excessive-A Fort Myers and Double-A Pensacola in 2019 earlier than raking within the Arizona Fall League), Lewis had fallen considerably precipitously down prospect lists. Baseball America, as an illustration, had ranked him the Ninth-best prospect within the sport forward of the 2019 season, however he’d fallen to quantity 82 heading into 2022. The expertise that led the Twins to take him first general in 2017 clearly stays, although, and the toolsy shortstop will shortly get his first likelihood to show he can hack it within the bigs — albeit a good bit sooner than anybody would have anticipated as not too long ago as a day in the past.
Ought to Lewis show himself able to producing within the majors, it isn’t clear how the Twins will deal with the infield logjam upon Correa’s return, although this could, in fact, be one thing of an enviable downside to have. Lewis is unlikely to unseat Correa (by some metrics, together with the 2021 Fielding Bible Awards, the very best defensive shortstop in baseball) on a everlasting foundation, however he might probably shift to both second or third with relative ease, maybe pushing Gio Urshela to first base (a minimum of whereas Miguel Sanó recovers from latest meniscus surgical procedure) or transferring across the infield whereas others rotate out and in of the DH position. No matter how Lewis’ first style of the majors pans out, although, Twins followers will certainly be excited to get their first have a look at their probably shortstop of the long run. However with their group holding an early lead within the AL Central, they’ll additionally hope to see him produce — significantly if Correa’s IL stint proves in any respect prolonged.
