Twins Promote Top Prospect Royce Lewis to Take Over at Shortstop

OMG ITS HAPPENING!!!!

The Twins are one Buxton injury (never far away) from fielding basically a minor-league lineup. We all hope that they do well, but surviving at .500 for the next month would be a good outcome.

2 hours ago, strumdatjag said:

I’m not thinking that Correa just might be Wally Pipp.  But you never know.  If Lewis shines at SS, where does he play after Correa returns:

1.  Left Field

2.  Shortstop

3. St Paul. 
 

I’m picking number one.  

Royce plays 3B and learns from Correa, who plays SS. Correa is the master at SS.

1 hour ago, jimbo92107 said:

When Correa returns, he goes right back where he won a Platinum Glove - Shortstop. Royce Lewis will slide over to 3rd base, taking Urshella's spot. The only thing stopping that would be a prolonged slump at the plate, which to me seems very unlikely. 

Imagine how Lewis and Correa will eat up grounders hit by righties. Forget about bunts and nubbers down the line. Royce will pounce on them like a cat.

For the time being, expect good starting SS from Lewis. Not as radically good as Correa's defense, but solid, with great range. Lewis is supposed to be a Mauer-level athlete, so we can expect some highlights. I hope they put him in today's game..!

You are so correct. I agree 100%

The Correa news sucks hard. He was really heating up at the plate, and his defense is spectacular.

But it is exciting to see Royce come up to the majors. He's been playing so well at Saint Paul that it looks like he might realize his talent in all the ways we hoped. It's also great that when someone like Correa goes down we're bringing up a highly-rated prospect to fill in, rather than hoping a journeyman can slot in and have a couple of great weeks. That's what building the pipeline is all about.

Personally, I'm bummed that I'll be on a plane during the game and will have to miss the debut!

51 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

This is exciting.  I imagine an infield of Kiriloff, Polanco, Lewis, Miranda and an OF of Larnach, Buxton, Kepler, Celestino.  I like it.  Sorry old vets, this is the wave of the future coming in quickly. Now keep Jeffers hitting and find another back up. 

I mean, I'd be much more confident in the defense with Urshela/Correa/Polanco/whoever, but I am excited to watch the young guys play.  

This COULD really work out if Lewis can handle MLB pitching. I have ZERO concern about finding him a place to play when Correa comes back. Let's not forget, we have the DH spot without anyone hitting well play to put there regularly. We even have our backup C hitting there; seems like we can do better. There's plenty of room for Correa, Larnach, Arraez, Urshela, Miranda and Lewis between SS, 3B, 1B, LF, and DH.  If either Miranda or Lewis needs more AAA time because they can't yet handle MLB pitching, they go back. Perfect time to give each of them a 60-100 PA run to see if they're ready. Weak schedule the next month, and a so far weak division. Let's set ourselves up for the second half. 

By the way, when is Correa coming back? Anyone hear?

18 minutes ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

 

By the way, when is Correa coming back? Anyone hear?

Nope, no timetable yet.

If I had to guess I don't think we'll see him until the 4th of July at the earliest.

2 hours ago, strumdatjag said:

I’m not thinking that Correa just might be Wally Pipp.  But you never know.  If Lewis shines at SS, where does he play after Correa returns:

1.  Left Field

2.  Shortstop

3. St Paul. 
 

I’m picking number one.  

3B.

4 minutes ago, bighat said:

Nope, no timetable yet.

If I had to guess I don't think we'll see him until the 4th of July at the earliest.

I wouldn't say at the earliest. 6 weeks is probably the best case which would be ~June 20th.

6 weeks, Ouch! Well, I guess that's right about the perfect amount of time to see if Lewis is ready to play and can handle MLB pitching. We'll know a lot more about this team by the end of June after Lewis and Miranda have each gotten 100-150 ABs, and Larnach has another 150 under his belt. Add to that 6-8 more starts apiece for Ryan, Ober and Winder and as they say, the future is now. Scary but could be exciting. 

1 hour ago, howeda7 said:

I wouldn't say at the earliest. 6 weeks is probably the best case which would be ~June 20th.

Yeah six weeks for a fracture, but then you have the rehab stint, so July sounds right.

I came into the season thinking this would be a developmental year for the Twins. It's looking like that will be the case for at least the next couple of months. The team should be able to get a good feel for where the young talent of Kirilloff, Lewis, Miranda, Jeffers, Gordon, Larnach, and Celestino stand in terms of their readiness to play in the majors.

The young pitching has looked good (Ryan, Ober, Winder, Duran, Alcala, Jax, Moran, and Sands so far) and if the young position players show they are ready, this team could be set up really well for the long term.

It will be interesting to see how Lewis does. I hope for the best. If he takes off with a great start both offensively and defensively does anyone else besides me then consider signing Correa a $35M mistake? That money could've been used to sign an Ace pitcher. Correa hasn't exactly been raking it so far this season and might actually have just been starting to get where we were hoping he'd be from the start. A hot start by Lewis could make everyone not miss Correa and make Falvine wonder why they did what they did and spent what they did for Correa. Garver with Jeffers behind the plate with Donaldson at 3B and Lewis at SS might have been better with an Ace in the rotation.