#SHORTSTOP DRILLS PLUS#

#SHORTSTOP DRILLS PLUS#

That activity slowly increased, plus those 20 or so live at-bats, before Lewis left Florida to embark on what he considers a pretty normal offseason at home in Texas, where he plans to focus on his knee's ability to run and jump without restraint. In another two months, he was taking grounders outside, albeit from a stationary position at first. When the swelling calmed down around early May, he started kneeling drills, fielding about 50 ground balls every morning. He started lifting weights about 10 days after the surgery, continuing that six days a week ever since. He lost the crutches five weeks after surgery, when doctors had estimated it would take more like six to eight weeks. The Twins staff will likely ease Lewis in a bit slower than that, but Lewis has felt he's been ahead of schedule throughout his rehab process. 'My first hurdle is to just get on the field and play every day without a leash,' Lewis said, speaking from his Dallas-area home Tuesday. But he's hoping 2022 will be his next chance. 1 overall in the 2017 draft - seemed primed to make his major league debut last season if not for the injury. With the pandemic canceling the 2020 minor league season and his injury taking him out for 2021 early in spring training, Lewis will have spent basically two years away from the sport. Even striking out against Duran felt good, mostly because that's about the most baseball the shortstop has played in what feels like eons. But those full-out strides felt good, just as hitting a homer off Jhoan Duran felt good. He only managed about four steps out of the box before he remembered he's still in recovery from a torn ACL in his right knee that required reconstructive surgery in February and a nine- to 12-month rehabilitation. '… I even went back into the dugout and joked, I'm like, 'How many of you guys have ever seen a first base coach give the stop sign?' They started laughing.' 'I've never seen this in my life, and I probably won't again, and I hope I don't,' Lewis said, 'but the first base coach gave me the double-hands stop sign. He hit a ground ball and instinctively took off running.

The Twins' top prospect was finally taking live at-bats again in two of the last instructional league games in Fort Myers, Fla., this fall.

For a second, Royce Lewis lost himself in the moment.

Shortstop drills