Royce Lewis, Brock Stewart Both Believe They’re Ready; Twins Say They’re Not
The All-Star game is over, meaning the 2nd half of the Major League Baseball season is nearly upon us. We’ll see our Minnesota Twins take to Target Field again on Saturday, but who exactly will be on the active roster that day remains to be seen.
Royce Lewis, the Twins’ 25-year-old injury-prone superstar, has been out of the Twins’ lineup since July 2, after what was diagnosed by team doctors as a grade two right adductor strain, a groin injury that has a standard recover time of 3 weeks to 3 months, depending on what medical website you trust.
Brock Stewart, the Twins’ 32-year-old bullpen success story, has been on the injured list since May 3, with right shoulder tendinitis. His 2024 injury story is quite the mysterious rollercoaster ride that includes a lot more downs than ups. But when available out of the bullpen, Stewart has been one of Rocco Baldelli’s favorite options.
So, whenever two of the best players on the Minnesota Twins roster are feeling back to 100% and ready to play baseball again, Rocco & Co will be champing at the bit to get both guys back on the active roster, right?
Royce Lewis, Brock Stewart “ready to go”… or are they?
Wrong. According to Darren “Doogie” Wolfson (KSTP, SKOR North), Royce Lewis and Brock Stewart are both feeling healthy and ready to return. Unfortunately, Twins brass does not agree with them. And, in all likelihood, neither player joins the team immediately out of the All-Star break.
“Brock Stewart is ready to go. Like, he should be in the Twins’ bullpen on Saturday, at Target Field, against the Brewers. But it sounds like there’s a possibility the Twins still wait a little bit. Royce Lewis, as well, it sounds like Royce Lewis is actually going to play some rehab games.”
“Royce is ready to go. He wants to be back in the Twins lineup on Saturday, but I don’t think that’s going to be the case. And so, you know, rehab assignment… you know… mini rehab assignment. Hopefully he’s back in the lineup, maybe for one of those Phillies games early next week. You think about this five-game stretch, coming out of the break Milwaukee into Philadelphia, but all at Target Field.
Tough games. But hey, [they’re all] home games. Go win them. It sure would be nice to have Royce in the lineup for at least one, if not a couple of those games. But don’t be surprised if there is some sort of rehab assignment. I just know this, the Twins have talked about him going to play with the Saints, for some stretch, before rejoining the Big League ball Club”
Darren Wolfson – Mackey & Judd Show (SKOR North)
This isn’t the first time we have had issues with the injury timelines of both Brock Stewart and Royce Lewis. The former, who began a rehab assignment on July 8, didn’t even think he would need an trip on the IL, back when the injury first happened. That was back in the very beginning of May. Now, after multiple setbacks, he says he is ready … but the Twins apparently disagree.
As for Royce Lewis, he pretty much told reporters a couple of weeks ago that he is tired of being babied by the MN Twins organization. He expressed that fear the night of his injury, noting a belief that they’d do the same thing what he believed was just a minor groin pull.
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We are two weeks into a recovery timeline that is supposed to be three weeks to three months long. Yet, not only is Lewis telling Doogie that he is “ready to go”, he says he’s been ready to go. How is that possible, given his grade two diagnosis?
Your guess is as good as mine, but no doubt the Minnesota Twins need to get on the same page with its players, regarding how injuries are handled, inside this organization. Remember, this is the same team that has had multiple players over the past two years (Ryan, Kirilloff) hide or downplay injuries to medical staff. There’s obviously a disconnect somewhere, and it needs to be fixed.
How good is Brock Stewart?
Brock Stewart became one of the top bullpen arms available to Rocco Baldelli in 2023, posting a 0.65 ERA, 1.065 WHIP and 2.21 FIP in 27.2 innings pitched. His ERA+ last season was an ungodly 666. Is that a bad omen? Maybe for hitters.
Stewart picked up in 2024, right where he left off last season. In 13.1 April innings, Brock racked up 16 strikeouts to go with a 0.68 ERA. 2.92 FIP and 1.0 WPA. Unfortunately, he reported shoulder soreness vs the White Sox on April 29, before being placed on injured reserve May 3.
#MNTwins reliever Brock Stewart will begin a rehab assignment tomorrow w/ the Saints in Louisville. He went on the I.L. May 3rd due to right shoulder tendinitis. He’ll be a huge help moving forward, if all goes well this week. Has been great when healthy. pic.twitter.com/kZ3xiracJ5
— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) July 8, 2024
Minnesota Twins offense will be unmatched when Royce Lewis Returns
The MN Twins are 14-11 this season when Royce Lewis is in the lineup. In those 25 games, the Twins hold a collective .289 batting average and .831 OPS. They clobbered 35 homers and scored 5.8 runs per game, too.
Related: Minnesota Twins Linked to Blue Jays Starting Pitcher
But since he went out, the Twins’ bats got even better, after the addition of Brooks Lee. Now, it’s expected that both players will be in the lineup, whenever Lewis does return. When available, Royce has been the best hitting on the Minnesota Twins, and it’s really not close.
Lewis holds a .354 batting average, a 1.039 OPS and 185 OPS+. He’s played in just 24 of the Twins’ 96 games this summer. Still, Lewis is 11th on the team in RBI (18), 4th in homers (10) and 6th in offensive WAR (1.1).
Including the playoffs, Royce Lewis has hit .314 with 29 homers and 74 RBIs in 90 games as a major leaguer.pic.twitter.com/248q7o7igc
— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) June 20, 2024
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