Royce Lewis Stole a Base in His First Rehab Game Back and the Twins are Furious

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Royce Lewis - Minnesota Twins
Credit: Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports

In case you didn’t hear, Royce Lewis is back playing baseball again, after sitting out months with a torn quad. And the Minnesota Twins were quickly reminded during his first rehab game with the St. Paul Saints that he only knows how to play baseball one way, and that’s fast.

After a single up the middle in his first at-bat of the day, Lewis immediately stole 2nd base, sliding in safely by a mile or more. Welp, looks like that quad is feeling pretty darn good, eh? That must be a good sign, right?

Well, yes. It is obviously a good sign that Royce Lewis’ leg is feeling a lot better. If the Twins are going to make any sort of postseason run, they will need Lewis available for as many games as possible going forward. He is arguably their best player. And the only reason why you have to argue that is probably due to his health.

Minnesota Twins “horrified” when Royce Lewis stole 2nd base

Speaking of health, Twins officials were reportedly “horrified” when they heard/saw that their injury riddled young superstar had stolen a base down in St. Paul. According to LaVelle E. Neal III (Star Tribune) Royce does NOT have the green light to steal bases across the river. In fact, he has a “bright red light” and isn’t even supposed to be running at 100% yet.

I must admit, while I wasn’t “horrified” by seeing Lewis steal 2nd, it did catch me off-guard (probably like it did the opposing catcher). Stealing a base during your first time running the bases off a major leg injury would not have been on my Saints game BINGO card. Clearly, he is not interested in taking Mitch Garver’s advice.

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But, I’m even more surprised that Minnesota Twins brass had such a strong reaction to it. Not only were they horrified, LaVelle makes them sound like they were legitimately pissed off by it. I understand wanting to take it slow, but he hasn’t hurt himself by smashing into outfield walls or making stupid baseball plays.

He had an unfortunate run in with a wall a couple of years back, which caused a knee injury. And his quad tore running from 2nd to 3rd base earlier this season. At the end of the day, you have to let the kid play baseball. Stealing bases is part of his game and he is good at it.

If he feels good enough to run, let the kid run. One thing is for sure, he still remembers how to hit. Lewis is 2 for 3 today with the Saints, with a double and some RBIs.

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