MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The Minnesota Twins have returned third baseman Royce Lewis from his rehab assignment, clearing the way for his season debut after he strained his left hamstring in spring training.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The Minnesota Twins have returned third baseman Royce Lewis from his rehab assignment, clearing the way for his season debut after he strained his left hamstring in spring training.

Lewis went 4 for 23 with one double in six games with St. Paul, finishing yet another rehabilitation that has defined his young career.

The first overall pick in the 2017 draft, Lewis suffered his latest injury on March 16 while running out a ground ball in an exhibition game.

Lewis missed the 2021 season after he tore his right ACL when he slipped on ice at his Texas home during a freak winter storm. He needed reconstructive ACL surgery on the same knee in 2022, after a collision with the wall while making a catch during a brief audition in center field barely two weeks after his major league debut.

He opened the 2023 season on the injured list while still in recovery and debuted that year in late May. Lewis also had IL stints that season with a strained left oblique and a left hamstring strain. In 2024, he played in a career-high 82 games, enduring IL stints for a strained right quadriceps and a right adductor strain.