MINNEAPOLIS -- Infielder Royce Lewis will begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A St. Paul on Friday.
Lewis was placed on the 10-day IL on June 15 (retroactive to June 14) after he suffered a mild left hamstring strain while running out a grounder on June 13 at Houston. It was the same hamstring that he injured during Spring Training. That injury kept him sidelined until May 6, but the team is encouraged by his quick recovery from his most recent setback.
“You never know when you're dealing with muscle injuries what you're ultimately getting,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “You have to let guys recover and let them reset and let the healing occur. I think he's in a good spot right now. I think this is what we were probably hoping for when it first happened.”
Baldelli said Lewis would serve as the designated hitter for the Saints when they host the Louisville Bats on Friday.
“He’s going to go get some at-bats and put a load on his lower half and see how he comes out of it,” Baldelli said. “To this point, this is OK. We can deal with this. Hopefully it will go as planned from here on out.”
Lewis got off to a historically slow start when he made his regular-season debut this year. However, in his last nine games, he was slashing .393/.485/.571 with five walks and only four strikeouts.