00:00But Royce Lewis, right before we hit the air, is being optioned to AAA St. Paul.
00:05Royce Lewis headed to the minor leagues.
00:08Royce Lewis of the Minnesota Twins, previous number one overall pick, was really struggling this year.
00:14Now, he was staying on the field, but Royce Lewis did have a stint on the IL.
00:19I believe it's 10 IL stints since his Major League debut.
00:2226-year-old in 31 games has been a negative war player, hitting $1.63 with a 539 OPS.
00:30There's a lot that's gone wrong for Royce Lewis over the last couple of years.
00:34And I just kind of wanted to open the floor to you.
00:36What do you see going awry with the former, it seemed like, blossoming star?
00:42Yeah, and I mean, I think that's the craziest part is it's not just like the prospect thing.
00:46We saw him come up and have these incredible stretches at the big league level, where when he was hot,
00:53you know, he was as dominant as anybody.
00:55And I think it was expected, though, at the same time, he was going to always kind of be this
00:59turbulent player where there'll be bad stretches.
01:02There'll be good stretches.
01:03And then the aggregate, he's going to give you a good year.
01:06I think the injuries have definitely affected the mental for him.
01:10It has to.
01:10And also the physical, right?
01:12Like, your body's not moving the same way.
01:13This was an explosive athlete that still is a pretty good athlete that I imagine just some things that he
01:20wants to do with his mind, his body's not catching up with.
01:23And I'm sure that starts to make you chase your own tail mechanically.
01:25But I also think there's just things mentally that I just think have to be weighing on him.
01:32And I just wonder if a change of scenery might be the best thing and ultimately maybe what makes sense
01:39for both sides.
01:40There was one quote he had.
01:42I think there was felt like people around the twins.
01:45This was the quote, actually, from Dan Hayes.
01:48It feels like people around here sometimes are waiting for me to struggle so that they can write me off
01:53officially or get me out of here.
01:56I think that's something that someone that's really obviously hurting is saying and is not in a great spot.
02:01And I feel for Royce Lewis that he feels that way and feels it to the point that he needed
02:07to vocalize it.
02:09So I just I just wonder, Jack, like if it's if it needs to happen somewhere else.
02:15You'd think it might have to with Royce Lewis that it's just a really weird thing, honestly, to say.
02:21And when you feel like it's you against the world in your local market, it's really, really unfortunate.
02:26So hoping that Royce Lewis can recalibrate a little bit.
02:30The problem is, it's a great thing for the Minnesota Twins.
02:34It's a bad thing, I guess, for Royce Lewis.
02:35There's no separation.
02:36He doesn't even need to leave his apartment or his home in Minneapolis because it's about 25 minutes door to
02:42door between Target Field and CHS Field, which is the home of their AAA affiliate, the St. Paul Saints.
02:48So you're still in the same neighborhood.
02:50You're still dealing with the same media market.
02:52The same writers are going to be at the ballpark in AAA.
02:54So I don't know.
02:56We'll just we'll see how the mental is for Royce Lewis in AAA, and we'll see if he can kind
03:01of get back on track on field in AAA.
03:04A guy that's up real quick to wrap up the show.
03:08Dylan Cruz is coming back to Washington from AAA Rochester.
03:12Dylan Cruz was having himself an interesting start to his year in AAA.
03:17He was a bit of a surprise option, but Dylan Cruz was underwhelming last year.
03:21630 OPS at 208.
03:22So far this year, hitting 260 with a 780 OPS.
03:26Five homers.
03:27He struck out a lot more than anybody was anticipating at the outset this year.
03:32And I saw a tweet with, you know, kind of like the graph of the savant bubbles of what Dylan
03:37Cruz is doing in AAA.
03:38And it's a pretty different looking Dylan Cruz.
03:41Now, he's hitting the ball.
03:42It seems like as hard as he ever has in professional baseball right now.
03:45Yeah, that's the interesting part.
03:47He's absolutely punishing the baseball.
03:50He's still a little bit aggressive.
03:52So, I thought maybe he was leaning into the three true outcome thing a little bit more.
03:56Not necessarily.
03:57We'll see, you know, what happens at the big league level.
03:59I do like that he's been a bit more upright in his stance.
04:02That's something we were talking about.
04:03Like, really good athletes stand him up a little bit.
04:05He still sinks in there pretty good, though.
04:07And then I think it's just been always hard for him to stay back, similar to what we were talking
04:11about with the Basayo conversation, where sometimes guys that just sink in there, they just push right out with that
04:18back leg.
04:18The one big thing with Dylan Cruz is how he performs against breaking balls.
04:24And we know how bad he was against them last year.
04:27Now, so far this year in AAA, I know it's AAA.
04:30It's not as good a breaking ball.
04:31It's an 873 OPS.
04:33So, that part is encouraging.
04:34I will say, though, it's a 66% contact rate overall in AAA.
04:40And remember, like, the barriers we talk about for Major League Baseball, it drops a little bit each year, but
04:46it's about 63%, 64%, and you better be more Akami, right?
04:50So, that's my concern.
04:52I don't know if I'm looking at Dylan Cruz, and I hope I'm wrong.
04:55I really want to see this guy succeed.
04:57And he doesn't have to be the offensive player we thought he would be to be a three-war player
05:03because of the defense and speed.
05:04And it helps that he's hitting the ball really hard.
05:06But I just – I think this guy's going to whiff a lot, and I think it's going to be
05:10tough and a little bit turbulent.
05:11I don't really know what to expect here.
05:13I don't really know what to expect here.
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