Twins’ Royce Lewis to begin rehab assignment for hamstring strain

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Twins third baseman Royce Lewis will begin a rehab assignment on Friday with Triple-A St. Paul, two weeks after he strained his left hamstring.

Lewis will be the designated hitter for the Saints to start, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said Thursday before Minnesota’s game against Seattle. Lewis was hurt while running out a grounder on June 13 in a game at Houston, a milder recurrence of the same injury he suffered during spring training that cost him the first 35 games of the season.

“I think he’s in a good spot right now,” Baldelli said. “I think this is what we were probably hoping for when it first happened.”

The first overall pick in the 2017 draft was limited to 82 games last season by a severe quadriceps strain he suffered running the bases in the opener and later by a groin injury. The previous two years for Lewis were limited by recoveries from successive ACL surgeries.

Lewis has played in only 182 regular-season games since making his major league debut in 2022, and this year has been the first time the interruption seems to have affected his production. Lewis is batting just .202 with a .585 OPS and two home runs in 30 games this season. He had 32 straight hitless at-bats from May 19 to June 3.

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