Here are three things we\u2019ll be keeping an eye on headed into the weekend:<\/p>\n
1. Lewis sidelined:<\/p>\n
Twins third baseman Royce Lewis<\/a> has been through the wringer over the years when it comes to injuries, and he\u2019s now dealing with another scare. As noted by Dan Hayes of The Athletic<\/a>, Lewis was scratched from yesterday\u2019s lineup due to side tightness he suffered while running the bases prior to the game. Hayes added that the Twins view Lewis\u2019s removal from the lineup as purely precautionary, but for a player who participated in a career-high number of games last year at just 106, any sign of returning injury woes is concerning. Lewis will be looking not only for better health in 2026, but also more effectiveness at the plate. He hit a paltry .237\/.283\/.388 in 403 trips to the plate for Minnesota last year. Ryan Kreidler<\/a>, Kody Clemens<\/a>, Tristan Gray<\/a> and Eric Wagaman<\/a> are all on the 40-man roster and have experience at third base, and the Twins also have veteran Gio Urshela<\/a> back in camp on a minor league deal.<\/p>\n 2. Hoglund to meet with doctors:<\/p>\n A\u2019s right-hander Gunnar Hoglund<\/a> is headed for testing due to a knee issue that\u2019s been bothering him throughout camp, per Martin Gallegos of MLB.com<\/a>. The former first-round pick, acquired in the Matt Chapman<\/a> trade with Toronto, made his MLB debut last year. His six-start cup of coffee didn\u2019t go especially well, but the 26-year-old entered camp hopeful of earning another look in the rotation or at least in the bullpen. Injuries have been a persistent issue for Hoglund, who missed the second half last season due to hip surgery and underwent Tommy John surgery in 2021 just prior to being drafted. More details about should be available in the coming days, but if he\u2019s unable to pitch the A\u2019s have a deep group of young arms to work with in the rotation that includes Jack Perkins<\/a>, Braden Nett<\/a>, Henry Baez<\/a>, Joey Estes<\/a>, and Luis Morales<\/a>.<\/p>\n 3. Offseason additions making team debuts:<\/p>\n As the first weeks of Spring Training continue, impact players around the league are making their first game appearances for their new ball clubs. Three such players are set to start for their clubs today: Orioles right-hander Shane Baz<\/a>, who will face off against Mitch Keller<\/a> of the Pirates at 1:05pm local time in Florida; Mets right-hander Freddy Peralta<\/a>, who will pitch opposite Cardinals southpaw Quinn Mathews<\/a> at that same time; and Cubs righty Edward Cabrera<\/a>, who is scheduled to pitch opposite Guardians southpaw Logan Allen<\/a> at 1:05pm local time in Arizona later in the day. All three hurlers will slot in towards the front of their new rotations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here are three things we\u2019ll be keeping an eye on headed into the weekend: 1. Lewis sidelined: Twins…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-508118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}