Royce Lewis is supremely talented.

He was selected with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2017 MLB Draft by the Minnesota Twins and has had some electric moments at the MLB level.

Lewis is also extremely injury-prone. He left Friday’s game against the Houston Astros with a hamstring injury, giving him yet another ailment to deal with.

Ultimately, the injuries piling up as much as they are should lead to the Twins coming to a realization that MLB fans already know. He simply cannot be counted on as a cornerstone piece because he cannot be counted on to be on the field.

Lewis has not been placed on the Injured List as a result of this injury, but since he got an MRI on Saturday and was out of Saturday’s lineup, odds are, he’ll end up on the IL at some point, especially given how bad the injury looked in real time.

Royce Lewis might be one of my favorite players in the league. I feel absolutely terrible for this man that he can’t stay healthy.

I don’t know the severity of this but I do know he’s just finally heating up and now this happens.

Sucks, man.

pic.twitter.com/Zw6ERMm9Vm

— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) June 14, 2025
Lewis has already missed over a month with a hamstring strain this season, and has had a slew of injuries throughout his career. If the Twins didn’t realize Lewis couldn’t be counted on by now, maybe this injury will be their wake-up call.

As talented as Royce Lewis is, the Twins can’t treat him as a building block

The injuries piling up to this extent is such an unfortunate outcome because Lewis is so supremely talented.

We saw Lewis have a monster postseason a couple of years ago when he was first making a name for himself.

There were times last season when he looked like one of the best players on the planet, but his year was interrupted more than once due to injuries.

Now this season, he got off to a bit of a sluggish start when he returned from his first injury, but he was hitting .367 with a .990 OPS in June before getting hurt yet again.

Lewis has a superstar ceiling when healthy, but he’s been in the majors for parts of four years now and has never played in more than 82 games in a single season. That is a problem, especially when the Twins already have Byron Buxton, another injury-prone star, on their roster.

The Twins must treat Lewis as if he’s a luxury more than a building block.

They should expect big things when he’s healthy, but shouldn’t plan for him to be on the field. That puts them in a tough place, but it’d be tougher for them to build around him and neglect having a viable backup plan.