Baseball has two sides to play on, offense and defense. You’re either trying to hit the ball, or stop the ball from being hit. For the passed two days, Royce Lewis has posted very different outcomes when it comes to his hitting of the ball, and stopping the ball from being hit.
Royce Lewis, as we know, is the 25 year old infielder that the Minnesota Twins drafted with the first overall pick in the 2017 MLB Draft, and has been the spark of offense for the Minnesota Twins in the playoffs last season, as well as during his full time seeing action in the MLB this season.
Lewis got off to an excellent start to the season, playing in 1 game before straining his quad, and sidelining him around a month and a half. But since Lewis’ return, he has continued on just as he left off. Batting .377, and is already near the Twins’ top for homeruns with 9 despite missing the start of the season, and returning to the team’s lineup on May 14th.
But as Lewis progresses in his career, just like any person who’s gaining experience in a job field, and young athletes learning the ropes, growing pains are eminent.
The last two games for the Minnesota Twins have ended up in a series loss against the Tampa Bay Rays who are 5th in the AL East, and have came down to a pair of plays that revolved around Royce Lewis.
First, on the side of stopping the ball from being hit, Lewis and the Twins defense found themselves in the top of 10th inning, with a man on second, the batter hits the ball in between 2nd and 3rd base, to a routine groundball to Royce Lewis, who misses his target, shooting passed the first baseman, causing the runner to score and the Rays to take the lead. The Twins would go on to lose Game 2 of the series 3-2.
Second, now on the side of hitting the ball or… trying to score a run. The twins found themselves again in extra innings in the bottom of the 10th down a run with Lewis starting on second base. Carlos Correa would pop out to right field, and Lewis would decide to tag and take off for third base trying to advance a runner, Center Fielder Jose Siri, who caught the pop out from Correa, threw a perfect throw to third base, tagging Lewis out. Ryan Jeffers would follow with a single giving the Twins hope, but Carlos Santana would seal it for the Rays flying out. Game Over, Twins lose Game 3 of the Series 7-6.
Royce Lewis has shown the potential throughout his injury riddled career, but aside from physical injuries, mental mistakes have been shown as well, and can be a deciding factor in between being a GOOD Player, and GREAT Player. As Twins Nation goes along with this up and down season from the Twins, they may look back on losses like those listed above, and could be the difference in between traveling or being at home in the playoffs, or making the playoffs at all.
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