Royce Lewis took a long journey to get to Yankee Stadium, but the Twins third baseman is making the most of it.
Growing up as a shortstop in southern California to biracial parents, Lewis idolized Derek Jeter, so on his way to The Bronx for the first time Tuesday, Lewis made up his mind to honor his hero.
“I knew about the respect he earned from, it seemed like, the whole league,” Lewis, who did not play Thursday in an 8-5 loss to the Yankees, of why he revered Jeter. “He was a shortstop and his parents were black and white, like mine. I felt like I was him and I wanted to be like him.”
So before the first pitch he saw from Luis Gil, Lewis put his right arm up toward home plate umpire Chris Segal, just as Jeter often did during his career.
Unfortunately for Lewis, Segal misunderstood the action and granted Lewis time.
Lewis ended up homering later in the game.
And then Wednesday, when longtime visiting clubhouse manager Lou Cucuzza saw footage of Lewis’ pre-pitch honor of Jeter, he found a Jeter-model bat at the Stadium and gave it to Lewis on his 25th birthday.
“He told me to take batting practice with it, but I don’t want to break it,’’ Lewis said with a laugh. “I might try it with some soft-toss, but I’m going to leave it in my house and hope to get it signed.”
With Carlos Correa at shortstop for Minnesota, Lewis hasn’t seen much time there — or anywhere else, thanks to injury issues.
Lewis, the first overall pick in the amateur draft in 2017, tore the ACL in his right knee in both 2021 and 2022 and missed most of the early part of this season with a strained quad.
He’s produced well when healthy and the Twins are hoping it stays that way.
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