Latest news with #Lewis'
New York Times
5 days ago
- General
- New York Times
Royce Lewis' prolonged struggles have left a huge hole in the middle of Twins' lineup
Fairly or not, Royce Lewis became one of the faces of the Minnesota Twins' stretch-run collapse last season, falling into his first extended slump as the team finished in a six-week funk to vanish from the playoff picture. In mid-August, the Twins had a 70-53 record, with postseason odds well above 90 percent, and Lewis was doing his usual thing, batting .275 with 15 homers and a .970 OPS in 45 games between injured list stints. They looked like a playoff team and he looked like an oft-injured 25-year-old star. Advertisement But the Twins went 12-27 down the stretch, and Lewis hit .182 with one homer and a .474 OPS despite being healthy enough to play 37 of those final 39 games. For the first time in his career, there were questions about Lewis' on-field production rather than strictly his ability to stay on the field. Lewis began to answer those questions during spring training by reporting to camp healthy and hitting .346 in 12 games, only to suffer a moderate left hamstring strain about two weeks before Opening Day. He missed the rest of spring training and the first 35 games of the season, returning on May 6. Royce Lewis pulled up running to first base and exited the game with what looks like a leg injury. — Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) March 16, 2025 And unfortunately for the Twins, Lewis has picked up where he left off in the second half of last season, batting .138 with one homer and a .415 OPS in 19 games. He's currently in a 0-for-24 slump, and that's come three weeks after ending an 0-for-36 slump that stretched back to last September. 'I'm at a point where the hope is gone,' Lewis told reporters Wednesday in Florida after multiple hard-hit outs against the Tampa Bay Rays. 'I just do my job as best as I can. If I keep hitting the ball hard, they say it's going to find a hole, but I haven't seen it yet.' Because of Lewis' many injuries — including back-to-back season-ending torn right ACLs in 2021 and 2022, and IL stints for his quadriceps, adductor, oblique and both hamstrings since then — Wednesday was the 171st game of his big-league career spread across parts of four seasons with the Twins. Lewis' career numbers are still very good. He's hit .254 with 34 homers for a .781 OPS that's 15 percent better than league average. But separating his overall production into before and after the middle of last August shows a shocking drop-off in performance for a 25-year-old. Advertisement Lewis hit .297 with 32 homers and a .950 OPS in 110 career games through Aug. 12 of last season. Lewis has hit .175 with two homers and a .470 OPS in 61 games since then. JACKSON CHOURIO BRINGS IT BACK 🤯 — MLB (@MLB) May 18, 2025 His hideous .138 batting average this season does include notably bad luck. Lewis was robbed of a homer in Milwaukee last week, and he's had several other well-struck balls find gloves for outs. However, even his .225 expected batting average is discouraging. Of late, he's been tinkering with his stance. 'Feels like a Wiffle ball game right now truly,' Lewis said, 'because you know how the Wiffle ball stays up? That's what my ball feels like. I'm hitting it. It feels good and it's just staying up a little bit. Hopefully, I can produce for the team soon.' Almost every time Lewis has a good game, or even a good swing that turns into a bad-luck out, manager Rocco Baldelli will express optimism that he's turning things around and about to get into a prolonged groove. Lewis and various teammates will often do the same. It's understandable. Lewis was so great in his first 110 games and created such a reputation for coming back from injury adversity to make an immediate impact at the plate that his returning to that star form probably seems inevitable to anyone in the Twins' clubhouse. They've seen what he can do. But in the meantime, Lewis has been one of the worst hitters in baseball for 61 games spanning two seasons, and it's difficult to make a compelling case that he's trending in the right direction. If anything, a deeper look at Lewis' underlying metrics and batted-ball data reveals cause for further concern. When a previously productive hitter goes through an extended slump, it can often be traced to an increase in strikeouts, but that's not the case for Lewis. In fact, his strikeout rate has been remarkably stable — 21.4 percent in his first 110 games versus 21.2 percent in his past 61 games. Advertisement Lewis has made the same amount of contact, but the quality of that contact has deteriorated, leading to his batting average on balls in play plummeting from .315 to .218. Similarly, his isolated power — slugging percentage minus batting average — has nosedived from a stout .292 to a punchless .070. royce lewis is now 0-for-20 in his last 21 plate appearances looks like he's trying to change things up with an upright open stance — parker hageman (@HagemanParker) May 28, 2025 Lewis stopped hitting the ball as hard, basically. His average exit velocity has declined by almost 3 mph, from 89.6 to 86.9, and his hard-hit rate has fallen from 42 percent to 33 percent. Lewis has also sapped his power by pulling fewer balls in play (39 percent versus 47 percent) and hitting more on the ground (38 percent versus 34 percent). And though his strikeouts haven't risen, he's been swinging at worse pitches, which naturally leads to worse contact. Lewis' swing rate on pitches in the strike zone has remained stable, hovering around 70 percent, but his swing rate on out-of-zone pitches has jumped from 28 percent to 34 percent. Lewis has simply become a far less dangerous hitter, which isn't supposed to happen to a 25-year-old with great production through 110 career games. He's swinging at worse pitches and making worse contact, both in terms of how hard he's hitting the ball and where he's hitting the ball. Opposing pitchers have predictably taken notice and are attacking Lewis like a less dangerous hitter, throwing him more pitches in the strike zone (52.1 percent versus 49.9 percent) and more fastballs (55.4 percent versus 51.6 percent). They're no longer as scared of him, so they go right after him. Whether it's as straightforward as his swing mechanics being out of whack due to the constant starts and stops, or as complex as years of leg and core injuries taking a lasting physical toll, Lewis hasn't hit like himself in a long time. And a struggling Twins lineup desperately needs the old Royce back.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Carey Mulligan joins cast of Greta Gerwig's Narnia adaptation
Carey Mulligan is reportedly in talks to join the cast of Narnia, Greta Gerwig's forthcoming adaptation of CS Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia fantasy novel series. The first instalment of the Oscar-nominated director's two-part film series will be released for a two-week run in Imax theatres worldwide next November, before moving to Netflix on Christmas Day, 2026. Gerwig's film will be based on the sixth novel in Lewis' series, The Magician's Nephew, which is a prequel to the series and features the creation of Narnia by Aslan the lion, one thousand years before the events that take place in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The Magician's Nephew follows two children, Digory and Polly, who are subject to the White Witch's fury after their uncle dabbles with magic. In huge casting news for Gerwig's first directorial project since 2023's record-breaking Barbie, Mulligan will play Digory's critically ill mother, per The Hollywood Reporter. Mulligan, considered by many the leading English star of her generation, has been nominated for the Best Actress Oscar three times for her performances in Bradley Cooper's Maestro (2023), Emerald Fennell's Promising Young Woman (2020) and Lone Scherfig's An Education (2009). Casting rumours have been flying about Narnia, with Meryl Streep reportedly in talks to voice Aslan. There's also been speculation that Daniel Craig will play the children's uncle and Barbie and Sex Education star Emma Mackey is set to play Jadis, the White Witch, following rumours that pop star Charli XCX was previously under consideration for the role. The Independent has contacted Netflix for comment. Published between 1950 to 1956, Lewis' bestselling book series chronicles the adventures of various children who are transported into the fictional world of Narnia. Three of the seven titles have been adapted for the big screen, including The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), Prince Caspian (2008) and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010). Gerwig became attached to the new project in 2020, the same year her critically acclaimed Little Women adaptation was nominated for several Oscars. Before that, her solo directorial debut, Lady Bird (2017), also earned numerous Oscar nods. She has since continued to blaze trails in the film industry. In 2023, her Barbie comedy, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, raked in over $1bn at the box office, making her the highest-grossing female director of all time.
New York Post
12-05-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Washington Post CEO Will Lewis ‘in hiding' from newsroom as morale sinks and staffers ‘joke' about his drinking: report
Washington Post CEO and publisher Will Lewis has reportedly gone into a 'state of hiding' as fury within the newsroom grows over the massive overhaul by the paper's owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Lewis, who took the reins of the Beltway broadsheet in 2023, has been noticeably absent since last June, several Washington Post staffers told The New Yorker in a lengthy feature published on Monday. Staffers — already frustrated by an exodus sparked by Bezos' decision to kill an endorsement of Kamala Harris shortly before the election — also told the outlet that they had concerns about the British-born Lewis' drinking. Advertisement 'One thing that has damaged him internally is that his drinking is widely known in the newsroom,' a former senior editor claimed. 'It's literally something his employees joke about.' 5 Washington Post CEO and publisher has been absent in the newsroom, according to frustrated staffers. The Washington Post via Getty Images The absence of Lewis — who previously served as CEO of the Wall Street Journal — has fractured his relationship with executive editor Matt Murray, whom he appointed to the job earlier this year, the report said. Advertisement Part of the discord was related to how the newspaper covered his own volatile tenure at the paper, The New Yorker said. The publication has since mostly stopped covering itself. 'I know Will [Lewis] was very upset with Matt [Murray] for the (Washington) Post's coverage and for some period of time wouldn't talk to Matt,' the former senior editor told The New Yorker. Last week, Lewis skipped celebrating the paper's multiple Pulitzer Prize wins at its DC newsroom, which was led by Murray, according to The New Yorker. Lewis' absence was attributed by Murray to a long-planned trip. Advertisement 5 Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who owns the newspaper, has led the outlet's change in direction. GC Images A rep for the Washington Post denied that Lewis and Murray had a falling out. When asked about Lewis' absence, the spokesperson told The Post that the exec respects the line of the newsroom but regularly attends news and opinion meetings. The rep did not address Lewis' alleged drinking. Advertisement 5 Staffers griped to The New Yorker about Lewis' drinking and said that morale was low after the sweeping changes at the paper. AP Late last year, Lewis had raised eyebrows when he ditched the paper's annual Eugene Meyer Awards. Instead, he hosted a private dinner for award recipients in January — though he skipped the cocktail hour, the New Yorker reported. At the dinner, Lewis praised the the paper's recent accomplishments even as he laid off nearly 100 people that month. Don Graham, the 80-year-old son of former Post publisher and icon Katharine Graham, spoke out during the private dinner in an unusual unscripted moment. After outlining the Meyer Awards' history, Graham said morale was low at the paper. Lewis reportedly kept his gaze fixed on his place setting. 5 A rep for the Washington Post denied that executive editor Matt Murray (above) and Lewis (seated) have had a falling out. The Washington Post via Getty Images 'It was such a wild moment,' an attendee told the magazine. In March, Lewis, Bezos and Murray were MIA at the the premiere of 'Becoming Katharine Graham' at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Another person who spoke to The New Yorker said that morale has continued to be low and added that Lewis and his top deputies speak of the newsroom with 'vitriol.' Advertisement They were constantly infantilizing them and constantly talking about how they needed to be disciplined,' the person said. A spokesperson for the newspaper denied the claim and said Lewis has 'tremendous' respect and appreciation for his colleagues. 5 Murray said Lewis' absence from the Pultizer ceremony was due to the CEO's travel schedule. via REUTERS Lewis has faced backlash from staffers over Bezos' edict to move the paper's left-leaning coverage more to the center, including a move to hire more right-leaning voices. Bezos also drew scorn after announcing the opinions section would be devoted to advocating for 'personal liberties' and 'free markets.' Advertisement The changes have sparked defections from a slew of editors, reporters and columnists. David Shipley, the newspaper's opinion editor, resigned and more than 75,000 readers canceled their subscriptions in protest. In January, more than 400 Washington Post journalists sent an angry letter to Bezos, pleading with him to intervene on the paper's direction to restore the 'trust that has been lost.'
Mint
07-05-2025
- Sport
- Mint
Royce Lewis is tired of being the injured guy, back with the Twins again with hope of better health
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Royce Lewis' repeated appearances on the injured list have not made the experiences any easier. The more he's not on the field with the Minnesota Twins, the more frustration he has felt. 'I'm tired of being the guy on the IL,' Lewis said. 'Seems like these injury bugs, they just stick on one guy for awhile. Hopefully I got mine off.' His latest absence behind him, Lewis rejoined the Twins on Tuesday for the beginning of a three-game series against Baltimore. After missing the first 35 games of the season because of a moderate strain of his left hamstring that occurred while running out a ground ball in spring training, Lewis was back in the lineup batting fifth as the designated hitter. 'I've just got to play a little bit smarter. That's what some of these other guys I've seen play the game at a high level do to be able to play 162,' said Lewis, who appeared in his 153rd regular-season game since his debut three years ago. 'If I was Bobby Witt's speed I think I'd run a lot, but I'm not there anymore with all the injuries, so it's just play smart, man, and let me get in the box, because that's where I have my most fun.' The Twins, who also got multi-position player Willi Castro back on Tuesday from a strained right oblique muscle that cost him 16 games, have been lacking the hitting punch and general spunk that Lewis typically provides. They lost 15 of their first 22 games. 'I just feel like I have a lot of fun in life. I take every moment and cherish it. I don't take it for granted, and this is just another day, another beautiful day,' Lewis said, likening the sunny 81-degree afternoon to the weather in his native Southern California. 'It's just a perfect time. If feels like opening day for me, and I'm really excited for the opportunity.' The first overall pick in the 2017 draft was limited to 82 games last season by a severe quadriceps strain he suffered running the bases in the opener and later a groin injury. The previous two years for Lewis were tainted by recoveries from successive ACL repair surgeries. Each time he has returned, he has made an immediate impact on the lineup. 'You always expect he is going to come out and do something,' manager Rocco Baldelli said. 'When the lights turn on, he wants to play.'
Hamilton Spectator
06-05-2025
- Sport
- Hamilton Spectator
Royce Lewis is tired of being the injured guy, back with the Twins again with hope of better health
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Royce Lewis' repeated appearances on the injured list have not made the experiences any easier. The more he's not on the field with the Minnesota Twins , the more frustration he has felt. 'I'm tired of being the guy on the IL,' Lewis said. 'Seems like these injury bugs, they just stick on one guy for awhile. Hopefully I got mine off.' His latest absence behind him , Lewis rejoined the Twins on Tuesday for the beginning of a three-game series against Baltimore. After missing the first 35 games of the season because of a moderate strain of his left hamstring that occurred while running out a ground ball in spring training, Lewis was back in the lineup batting fifth as the designated hitter. 'I've just got to play a little bit smarter. That's what some of these other guys I've seen play the game at a high level do to be able to play 162,' said Lewis, who appeared in his 153rd regular-season game since his debut three years ago. 'If I was Bobby Witt's speed I think I'd run a lot, but I'm not there anymore with all the injuries, so it's just play smart, man, and let me get in the box, because that's where I have my most fun.' The Twins, who also got multi-position player Willi Castro back on Tuesday from a strained right oblique muscle that cost him 16 games, have been lacking the hitting punch and general spunk that Lewis typically provides. They lost 15 of their first 22 games. 'I just feel like I have a lot of fun in life. I take every moment and cherish it. I don't take it for granted, and this is just another day, another beautiful day,' Lewis said, likening the sunny 81-degree afternoon to the weather in his native Southern California. 'It's just a perfect time. If feels like opening day for me, and I'm really excited for the opportunity.' The first overall pick in the 2017 draft was limited to 82 games last season by a severe quadriceps strain he suffered running the bases in the opener and later a groin injury . The previous two years for Lewis were tainted by recoveries from successive ACL repair surgeries. Each time he has returned, he has made an immediate impact on the lineup. 'You always expect he is going to come out and do something,' manager Rocco Baldelli said. 'When the lights turn on, he wants to play.' ___ AP MLB:
