Twins' Royce Lewis looking to turn the page to a healthier 2025

FORT MYERS, FLA. – A promising season lost to hitting slumps and untimely injuries now nearly five months in the past, the full complement of Twins set out Monday to prepare for a shot at redemption in 2025.

Royce Lewis, for one, has some advice on how it can be accomplished:

Shut up.

“We’re going to stop talking about health stuff. I think that’s a bad juju, man,” the third-year third baseman said shortly after the team’s first full-squad workout of the spring. “I remember I said something about a slump [last September] — I was actually saying that you go through slumps, but I just don’t go through that thing mentally. Well, we’re not going to talk about any of that because the baseball gods hear you and things go the wrong way.”

Lewis suffered a quad injury on Opening Day last year that kept him sidelined for two months, and he suffered through the worst month of his career in September, batting only .181 as the Twins went 12-26 down the stretch, and la-la-la-la-la-la-he-doesn’t-want-to-hear-it, and certainly not revisit it.

“We’re just going to talk about what we’re going to do: Work hard. We’re going to keep working,” Lewis said. “To me, you just have to be a lion. Why is he the king of the jungle? He’s not the biggest. He’s not the fastest. He’s just the lion, and everyone knows he’s the guy.”

The Twins, their effervescently upbeat third baseman said, are lions, too.

“We just have to come in with that mentality, and realize it doesn’t matter if the Dodgers are the fastest team or the best team on paper, or whatever you want to say,” Lewis preached. “It doesn’t matter. It’s all about playing baseball in between the lines. Work your butts off, get some wins — that’s what we are going to do.”

All 57 players on the Twins’ spring roster were in camp Monday, and 56 of them took part in the scheduled workouts. Only one, outfield prospect Emmanuel Rodriguez, was held out, because of a minor left ankle injury he suffered a week ago.

“He rolled his ankle, so he’s going to be about a week to two weeks behind,” Twins spokesman Dustin Morse said. “[Medical] imaging was all negative. Structural [damage], nothing. Just a strain in the ankle, so you won’t see him in the early live [batting practice].”

Rodriguez, who turns 22 next week, is rated the No. 2 prospect in the Twins’ system. He posted a 1.100 OPS in 37 games at Class AA Wichita last year but missed most of June, July and August with a hand injury that has now healed.

Along with the players, Twins alumni LaTroy Hawkins, Michael Cuddyer and Justin Morneau took the field to help with coaching, with more arriving later in camp.

Also in the Hammond Stadium dugout: Hall of Famer Rod Carew, who will turn 80 on the first day of the playoffs in October.

“It’s great to have Rod. His intro, it’s always a highlight of our day when we bring our team together,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said of welcoming Carew in front of the team Monday morning. “My guess is there was a little fist-pump there from Rod, too.”