No. 1 pick Royce Lewis hits double, does pushups, gets thrown at

Opinions differed on the reasons behind Lewis' pushups: A Bradenton broadcaster said Lewis was "hot dogging" at second base, while the Fort Myers team's Twitter feed speculated he might have been "punishing" himself.

May 17, 2019 at 5:01PM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)


Welcome to the Friday edition of The Cooler, where the weather is about to get really dumb for a while. Let's get to it:

*The traditional definition of hitting for the cycle in baseball is amassing a single, double, triple and home run in the same game. Only 11 players have done it in Twins history — including Jorge Polanco, who accomplished the feat earlier this season.

But perhaps the modern day cycle in baseball is this: A batter doing 1) something good at the plate; 2) celebrating in a way that irks the opposing team; 3) Getting thrown at in his next at-bat; 4) The other team getting mad when suffering the consequences of the obvious beaning attempt.

To that end, congratulations are in order for top Twins prospect Royce Lewis for his modern day cycle with Ft. Myers on Thursday.

Here's the sequence of events, thanks to video tweeted by Parker Hageman:

A few things:

1 I love the calm home plate umpire, who matter-of-factly ejects both the Bradenton pitcher and manager and then attempts to de-escalate the situation while the manager is yelling at him by simply turning his back and walking the other way.

2 Unwritten rules of baseball are dumb, but maybe Lewis doesn't do pushups at second base next time?

3 The Bradenton broadcaster who contends that the pitcher "didn't throw it at Lewis, he threw it behind him. That's how you take care of it without getting ejected" is … not correct. Throwing behind someone makes it even more obvious what your intent was. And intentionally throwing a baseball 90+ mph in the direction of a batter should get you ejected every single time.

Per a writeup on MLB.com: Opinions differed on the reasons behind Lewis' pushups; a Bradenton broadcaster stated that Lewis was "hot dogging" at second base, while Fort Myers' official Twitter speculated he might have been "punishing" himself for not hitting the ball farther.

Lewis, the No. 1 overall pick in 2017, is hitting just .233 with a .630 OPS at high-A Ft. Myers. But he's still just 19 (turns 20 next month).

*Ex-Wild forward Charlie Coyle, who had a goal and three assists for the Bruins in their four-game sweep of Carolina, is headed to the Stanley Cup Finals. His overall postseason tally is 6 goals and 6 assists in 17 games (and a plus-9) for Boston; in his last 26 postseason games with the Wild, Coyle had just four goals and two assists, and was minus-11.

*Former Cretin-Derham Hall wide receiver Michael Floyd, who caught 10 passes for the Vikings in 2017 and another 10 for Washington last season, latched on with Baltimore on a one-year deal.

*The main bout at UFC Fight Night at Target Center on June 29 is reportedly in jeopardy because Tyron Woodley has a hand injury. He was scheduled to face Robbie Lawler in a rematch from their bout in 2016. UFC is reportedly trying to find a replacement fighter against Lawler.

about the writer

about the writer

Michael Rand

Columnist / Reporter

Michael Rand is the Star Tribune's Digital Sports Senior Writer and host/creator of the Daily Delivery podcast. In 25 years covering Minnesota sports at the Star Tribune, he has seen just about everything (except, of course, a Vikings Super Bowl).

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