Royce Oliver Lewis (born June 5, 1999) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

for the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). He was drafted by the Twins first overall in the 2017 MLB draft. Lewis made his MLB debut in 2022.

Amateur career

Lewis attended JSerra Catholic High School in

San Juan Capistrano, California San Juan Capistrano (also known colloquially as San Juan or SJC) is a city in southern Orange County, California, United States. The population was 35,253 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census. Named for Saint John of Capistrano, San Ju ...

. As a junior, he was the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' high school baseball player of the year after hitting .429 with four

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run ...

. In summer 2016, he played in the

Under Armour All-American Game The Under Armour High School All-America Game is a high school football all-star game typically held in early January in the U.S. state of Florida created to spotlight the nation’s top high school seniors. The game was first played on January 5 ...

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and the Perfect Game All-American Classic at Petco Park, and was named MVP of both games. Lewis played mostly

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

and

outfield The outfield, in cricket, baseball and softball is the area of the field of play further from the batsman or batter than the infield. In association football, the outfield players are positioned outside the goal area. In bat and ball games ...

his first three years of high school before moving to shortstop for his senior year. Lewis was considered one of the top prospects for the 2017 Major League Baseball draft. He committed to the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

. He was named California's Baseball Gatorade Player of the Year in 2017 after batting .377 with four home runs and 25 stolen bases as a senior.

Professional career

Minor leagues

The

selected Lewis with the first overall selection of the 2017 draft. The Twins announced his signing on June 17, and Lewis made his professional debut with the Gulf Coast League Twins of the

Rookie-level Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National L ...

Gulf Coast League The Florida Complex League (FCL) is a rookie-level Minor League Baseball league that operates in Florida, United States. Before 2021, it was known as the Gulf Coast League (GCL). Together with the Arizona Complex League (ACL), it forms the low ...

on June 26. On August 12, Lewis was promoted to the

Cedar Rapids Kernels The Cedar Rapids Kernels are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. They are located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and play their home games at Veterans Memorial Stadium (Cedar Rapids), Veter ...

of the

Single-A Single-A, formerly known as Class A and sometimes as Low-A, is the fourth-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A, Double-A (baseball), Double-A, and High-A. There are 30 teams cl ...

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...

. He finished 2017 with a combined .279 batting average, four home runs, 27 RBIs, and 18 stolen bases in 54 games between both clubs. Lewis began the 2018 season with Cedar Rapids. In 75 games for Cedar Rapids, he batted .315 with nine home runs and 53 RBIs along with fifty runs scored and 22 stolen bases. On July 14, 2018, Lewis was promoted to the

Fort Myers Miracle The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. They are located in Fort Myers, Florida, and play their home games at the Lee County Sports Complex at ...

of the

High-A High-A, officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing, is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A and D ...

Florida State League The Florida State League (FSL) is a Minor League Baseball league based in the state of Florida. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following ...

. On July 26, 2018 MLB.com ranked Lewis as the 10th best prospect in baseball. Lewis ended his stint in Fort Myers batting .255 with five home runs and 21 RBIs in 46 games. Following the 2018 season, Lewis was named to the Midwest League postseason all-star team along with teammate Alex Kirilloff. Lewis was also named the MVP of the Midwest League. The Twins invited Lewis to

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

as a non-roster player in 2019. He returned to Fort Myers to begin the 2019 season. He was ranked the fifth-best prospect by MLB.com at the beginning of the

2019 season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

. Lewis was named to the 2019

All-Star Futures Game The All-Star Futures Game is an annual baseball exhibition game hosted by Major League Baseball (MLB) in conjunction with the mid-summer MLB All-Star Game. A team of American League-affiliated prospects competes against a team of National League- ...

. In July, he was promoted to the

Pensacola Blue Wahoos The Pensacola Blue Wahoos are a Minor League Baseball team of the Southern League (1964–present), Southern League and the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. They are based in Pensacola, Florida, and play their home ga ...

of the Double-A Southern League. Over 127 games between the two clubs, he slashed .236/.290/.371 with 12 home runs, 49 RBIs, and 22 stolen bases. He was selected to play in the

Arizona Fall League The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an off-season baseball league owned and operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) which operates during autumn in Arizona, United States, at six different baseball complexes. Arizona Fall League rosters are filled ...

for the

Salt River Rafters The Salt River Rafters are a baseball team that plays in the East Division of the Arizona Fall League. They play their home games at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick in the Salt River Pima–Maricopa Indian Community near Scottsdale, Arizona. ...

following the season. Lewis was named the 2019 Arizona Fall League MVP. Lewis did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On February 24, 2021, Lewis was diagnosed with a torn

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...

(ACL) in his right knee and had surgery set for February 26. The injury required nine months of recovery, causing Lewis to miss the 2021 season. He was selected to the 40-man roster following the season.

Major leagues

Lewis made his MLB debut for the Twins on May 6, 2022. On May 13, Lewis hit his first career home run, a grand slam off of

Cleveland Guardians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. Since , the team has played its home gam ...

reliever Bryan Shaw. He became the second player in Twins history to hit a grand slam for his first career home run, joining Danny Valencia. Lewis appeared in 12 games for Minnesota, batting .300/.317/.550 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI. On May 29, Lewis re-tore the ACL in his right knee. Lewis elected to undergo season-ending surgery to repair the injury. On May 29, 2023, Lewis was activated from the

injured list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 season, it was known as the disabled list (DL). General guidelines ...

and made his season debut as the starting third baseman. He became the first Twins player to hit a grand slam in two consecutive games on August 28. On September 4, he tied the Twins franchise record with his third grand slam of the season. His fourth grand slam on September 15 set the new franchise record. Lewis went on the injured list on September 22, ending his regular season. In 18 games, Lewis slashed .313/.410/.612 with six home runs and 23 RBIs. He was named the AL Rookie of the Month. The Twins activated Lewis for Game 1 of the 2023 AL Wild Card Series. Lewis hit home runs in his first two at bats. He hit his fourth home run of the postseason in Game 4 of the 2023 ALDS, tying

Kirby Puckett Kirby Puckett (March 14, 1960 – March 6, 2006) was an American professional baseball player. He played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career for the Minnesota Twins (1984–1995). Puckett was instrumental in helping the Twins t ...

for the most home runs in one postseason for the Twins. On

Opening Day Opening Day is the day on which professional baseball leagues begin their regular season. For Major League Baseball (MLB) and most of the American minor leagues, this day typically falls during the first week of April, although in recent year ...

of the 2024 season, Lewis strained a

quadriceps The quadriceps femoris muscle (, also called the quadriceps extensor, quadriceps or quads) is a large muscle group that includes the four prevailing muscles on the front of the thigh. It is the sole extensor muscle of the knee, forming a large ...

, and went on the injured list on March 30.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Royce 1999 births Living people African-American baseball players Baseball players from Orange County, California Cedar Rapids Kernels players Fort Myers Miracle players Gulf Coast Twins players Major League Baseball shortstops Major League Baseball third basemen Minnesota Twins players Pensacola Blue Wahoos players Salt River Rafters players Sportspeople from Aliso Viejo, California St. Paul Saints players Wichita Wind Surge players 21st-century African-American sportsmen