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Royce Lewis records first MLB hit as former No. 1 debut for Twins

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Shortstop Royce Lewis, the No. 1 pick in the 2017 draft, made his MLB debut Friday night against Oakland Athletics and recorded his first career hit. The Minnesota Twins called their best prospect to replace Carlos Correa. (Correa was hit by a pitch on Thursday and suffered from “potential for a non-displaced fracture“in his right middle finger,” the team said. He will undergo several tests on Friday.) Lewis’ first hit, an opposite field single, came in the eighth inning.

Take a look:

The 22-year-old Lewis had torn Triple-A up this season, hitting .310 / .427 / .560 with 10 doubles, three homeruns, eight stolen bases and almost as many walks (16) as strikeouts (19) in 23 matches. It’s his first fight in two years – Lewis missed 2021 with a torn ACL, and the minor league season 2020 was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Due to the torn ACL and two lost years of development, our RJ Anderson did not rank Lewis among the game’s 50 best prospects coming into this season. MLB.com ranked Lewis as number 44 in baseball this spring. Here is an excerpt from their scout report:

Lewis has a huge advantage when he is fast. He had close to top-of-scale speed before hurting his knee, making him a dangerous base runner. With a lot of moving parts to his swing and a big leg kick, Lewis came out of sync in 2019, but he seemed to get his timing back in [Arizona Fall League] and at the twins’ alternative training ground in 2020. He has been working on dampening his setup and smoothing out his swing, but it has yet to be tested. He is able to drive the ball to all fields and there is plenty of raw power for him to utilize … Prepared as a shortstop, Lewis has mostly played the premium position as a professional and had made enough improvements to, that most can believe that he and his above-average arm can stay there in the big leagues. He also showed positional flexibility in the AFL, including some plus defensive abilities in midfield.

The twins are currently without Luis Arraez (COVID), Kyle Garlick (calf), Alex Kirilloff (wrist) and Miguel Sanó (knee surgery). Correa will be the team’s fifth regular player (or semi-regular, in Garlick’s case) on the injury list, provided his finger injury is severe enough to require a longer absence.

Correa had started 23 of the team’s 25 matches on shortstop. Nick Gordon (now split in left field) and Jorge Polanco (starting second baseman) started the other two matches. Third baseman Gio Urshela has shortstop experience, but the twins will clearly need a legitimate shortstop while Correa is out and Lewis is as good an option as anyone else in the organization.

The 27-year-old Correa, who signed a three-year, $ 105.3 million contract with two opt-outs in spring training, owns a .264 / .323 / .385 batting line with two home runs this season. He has really taken it up lately after a slow start where he went 14-for-31 (.452) with three doubles and a homer in his last seven games.