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The Twins have announced that Royce Lewis will miss the 2020 season, as he is slated to undergo a procedure to reconstruct his right knee. It looks like the beat writers for the Pioneer Press and the Star Tribune hit the “tweet” button at the same time, although with slightly different information.
Royce Lewis has a right ACL tear and will require surgery, Derek Falvey just announced. He will fly to the Twin Cities and have the surgery on Friday and then will return to Fort Myers to rehab. Typical returns are at least nine months, Falvey said.
— Betsy Helfand (@betsyhelfand) February 24, 2021
Top prospect SS Royce Lewis needs knee reconstruction surgery on his right ACL, Twins announce.
— Phil Miller (@MillerStrib) February 24, 2021
Lewis, 21, was the first overall pick of the 2017 draft, and has been steadily moving up the Twins’ system since. He is generally considered one of the top two, and often the top overall prospect in the Twins organization. He wasn’t coming into 2021 without question marks left from his 2019 performance at High-A Fort Myers and Double-A Pensacola, although he absolutely destroyed the Arizona Fall League that year. Obviously, 2020 was a lost year for the minor leagues, although the Twins did bring Lewis to the alternate site in Saint Paul.
He was likely slated to begin the season at Triple-A Saint Paul this year, given the delayed start for the other leagues, but a cautious approach would have sent him to Double-A Wichita. Either way, Twins fans will need to wait another year to see Lewis in action, as he is expected to need about nine months to rehab. The surgery is slated to be performed in the Twin Cities, and Lewis will conduct his rehab at the team facilities in Fort Myers.
An additional detail from MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park, Lewis reportedly had some soreness during the offseason, but blames this injury largely on a slip during the recent ice storms that blanketed much of the south.
Lewis said he'd been feeling some soreness while doing offseason drills, and then he slipped on some ice during the recent storms in Texas to exacerbate it. Falvey said it's hard to know where specifically the issue started.
— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) February 24, 2021
Hopefully everything goes smoothly for Lewis, and we wish him a speedy recovery.