FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Minnesota Twins third baseman Royce Lewis will miss Opening Day with a moderate left hamstring strain, the team announced Monday.
The Twins did not provide a timetable for his return, but a stint on the injured list seems probable due to the typical recovery period.
Lewis, 25, sustained the injury during Sunday's Grapefruit League game against the Boston Red Sox. He felt it as he was running up the line after he bounced to third leading off the second inning. He is batting .346 (9-for-26) this spring with three RBIs and a stolen base.
Lewis batted .233 with 16 home runs and 47 RBIs in 82 games last season, when he missed more than two months with a quadriceps injury sustained on Opening Day.
The No. 1 overall pick of the 2017 MLB draft is a career .268 hitter with 33 homers and 104 RBIs in 152 games.
His development has been slowed by a variety of injuries, including ACL surgery on his right knee in both 2021 and 2022. Lewis missed the entire 2021 season after slipping on ice during a winter storm at his Texas home, forcing a surgery. He had ACL surgery on the same knee the following year.
He opened the 2023 season on the 60-day injured list while he recovered from his June knee surgery. He also had IL stints that year with a strained left oblique and a left hamstring strain.
Information from Field Level Media and the Associated Press was used in this report.