“Just a Personal Thing”: Twins’ Royce Lewis Explains His Gesture to Derek Jeter After First Homerun at Yankee Stadium

The match between the Minnesota Twins and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium proved memorable for Lewis. For the very first time, Royce Lewis (Minnesota Twins third baseman) played for the first time at the renowned ballpark. It was his long-time wish that he fulfilled on Tuesday. Like other Major League Baseball fielders, Lewis idolized Derek Jeter, the Yankees’ former captain.

Unarguably, Jeter was one of the greatest short-stops ever to play the game. By most, he’s considered the GOAT (Greatest of All Time), and surely he lived up to this tag. To show a kind gesture to the MLB legend, 2017’s amateur draft top pick paid one of the best tributes to Jeter. Going a step ahead, he imitated Derek Jeter’s batting stance, which made the fans go crazy inside the stadium. “Kind of get in his stance, do his little routine with the arm up and then do a little bat wiggle like him. And then go back to playing the game.” Lewis spoke before the game. 

Royce Lewis’s tribute to Derek Jeter

Being a fan of a player who has been a legend, how could Lewis have missed the chance? Talking with the reporter post-match, Lewis said, “It was just a personal thing I wanted to do. Pay an ode to such a mentor and, a great player, and a well-respected player around the league. And for me, my favourite player, and I was lucky enough to be able to do that in my first game in Yankee Stadium.” 

“Thank you for everything you did for the game of baseball. Thank you for being such a great player on and off the field. Really well respected, and it meant a lot to me, and it formed me to be the man I am today,” replied Lewis when asked if he had a message for Jeter if he was there in front of him. 

Playing against the Minnesota Twins, Lewis had just one thing on his mind: to please Derek Jeter. Making his way into the batter box, Lewis exactly replicated Derek Jeter’s batting stance.  Tapping his bat’s tip on the ground, he raised his right hand, signalling the home plate umpire, Chris Segal.

Every MLB fanatic who watched almost every Yankees game in the early 1990s and 2000s compared Lewis’s stance to Jeter’s.  Though Lewis didn’t imitate the stance completely, it still made the fans remember Derek Jetter’s batting. “I just wanted to imitate [Jeter] and mimic him because he was my idol,” Lewis told reporters after the game, as reported by ‘Bobby Nightengale of the Star Tribune’. 

Minnesota Twins need a balancing offense, and Lewis is the man

Indeed, it’s not the first time Lewis has returned from an injury and gone on to score a home run. Last May, after returning from ACL, he hit a home run and knocked four runs. Following the postseason, he played his very first game after suffering from a hamstring injury, smashing two home runs against the Toronto Blue Jays. 

Lewis’s presence at the rescue should boost and stabilize the offense. Throughout the season, the Twins offense has been inconsistent, and with Lewis’s return, things could change. Considering the batting team average, the Minnesota Twins are struggling in the American League at the #12 position. In homers and OPS, they’re in the middle of the pack, hoping for a quick turnaround.

Perhaps, despite Lewis imitating Jeter’s batting stance, the Minnesota Twins lost 5-1 at the Yankees stadium. He has returned from an injury, and it will take time for Lewis to pick up pace.  Ultimately, Lewis is known to score home runs, and will his return boost the Twins’ league chances? Time will tell.