According to Dan Hayes of The Athletic, the Twins have optioned 3B Royce Lewis to the minors, placed C Ryan Jeffers on the IL with a broken hamate bone, and selected the contract of veterans IF Orlando Arcia and C Alex Jackson. To make space on the 40-man roster, reliever Justin Topa was designated for assignment and Garrett Acton was transferred to the 60-day IL. In addition, reliever Travis Adams was recalled.
Lewis’ demotion a fall from grace for a player once thought to be the next great Twins
bat. His career got off to a scorching start, albeit repeatedly interrupted by injuries. This season, Lewis’ 55 wRC+ is the worst on the Twins, even below Matt Wallner who was demoted last week. And, most concerningly, things have been getting worse of late. Lewis has just 6 extra-base hits all season, and only one in the past month. He has a .132/.189/.191 batting line with a 34% strikeout rate in that same period. Lewis will join Wallner in a “reset” period in the minor leagues, hoping to get things back on track.
The other major roster change is Ryan Jeffers. Jeffers has been arguably the Twins’ best hitter this season and among the best in baseball, but that will be derailed after breaking his hamate bone in Monday’s contest. The hamate is a particularly tricky injury. It’s a small bone in your hand that wouldn’t cause a normal person many issues, but it lines up exactly where a hitters hands meet that knob of the bat, making it painful and difficult to swing. It’s an injury that can have last effects, particularly on power numbers, even after the return.
There was a rash of hamate injuries at the Spring Training to players like Corbin Carroll, Francisco Lindor, and Jackson Holliday. Carroll and Lindor were able to return fairly soon to Opening Day around six weeks later, and at least in Carroll’s case he was able to immediately return to his typical All-Star level performance. Holliday just returned two days ago, putting his timeline closer to three months.
As for Topa, it’s clear whatever effectiveness he showed earlier in his Twins tenure is gone. Originally acquired as part of the Jorge Polanco trade, Topa was expected to be part of a middle relief group to bridge the way to Griffin Jax, Jhoan Duran, Brock Stewart, and Louie Varland, but found himself thrusted into a larger role following last year’s trade deadline reliever sell off. He stumbled a bit in his elevated role last year and completely imploded this year. The Twins will have three days to trade, release, or send Topa outright to St. Paul. With over five years of service time, Topa will also have the option to refuse an assignment and become a free agent.
Beat reporter Aaron Gleeman says that Orlando Arcia and Alex Jackson are coming up to replace Lewis and Jeffers. Both veterans who have plenty of Major League experience, but they are 30+ year old veterans who are solid defenders with limited offensive upside. Arcia in particular is likely holding down the fort until the Twins determine Kaelen Culpepper is ready to face MLB pitching. The Twins don’t have a lot of other catching options in the high minors, so Jackson is here to stay for the time being.
