Topps Chrome Cards are just downright sexy, every year, and this year is no exception. The new Set is packed with some of the best looking Cards in Topps’ bag of tricks. The Hobby Sonic LITE Packs contain 4 cards each, and every Box contains 16 Packs. The best part of this 8-Box Break was those 4 Black & White RayWave Parallels, gorgeous! This Layton Sports Cards Pick Your Team Break was a win-win for the Twins: a Rookie and a Parallel. It was a beautiful Green Refractor Rookie Youthquake of Minnesota rising star Royce Lewis. Not only did the card look amazing, with the Chrome Card Stock, but the checkered/striped texture shined, literally, with the Green Refractor treatment. A Sonic BOOM for any Twins fan.
Minnesota Twins’ prospect, Royce Lewis, grew up in San Juan Capistrano, California, and by the time he was a Junior in High School, he was the Los Angeles Times HS Baseball Player of the Year! That year at JSerra Catholic High School, he hit .429 with 4 home runs!
In the summer of 2016, he played in the Under Armour All-American Game at Wrigley Field and the Perfect Game All-American Classic at Petco Park, and was named MVP of both games.
He was named California’s Baseball Gatorade Player of the Year in 2017 as a Senior, and batted .377 with 4 home runs, and 25 stolen bases that year!
Royce committed to the University of California, Irvine and was considered one of the top prospects for the 2017 Major League Baseball draft.The Minnesota Twins selected Lewis with the first overall pick in the 2017 Draft, and announced his signing on June 17, 2017.He soon made his professional debut with the Gulf Coast League Twins, of the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League on June 26.
On August 12 he was promoted to the Cedar Rapids Kernels of the Class A Midwest League, and finished 2017 with a combined .279 batting average, 4 home runs, 27 RBIs, and 18 stolen bases in 54 games between both clubs. Lewis then began the 2018 season with Cedar Rapids, and in 75 games, he batted .315 with 9 home runs and 53 RBIs along with 50 runs scored and 22 stolen bases.
His journey would continue to the Fort Myers Miracle of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League in 2018, where MLB.com ranked him as the 10th best prospect in baseball. He ended his stint in Fort Myers batting .255 with 5 home runs and 21 RBIs in 46 games, and was named to the Midwest League postseason all-star team along with being named the MVP of the Midwest League.
Lewis would bounce around minor league clubs until 2020, where minor league seasons were cut off due to COVID-19.
To add injury to inconvenience, in February of 2021, Lewis was diagnosed with an ACL tear and had surgery set for February 26. The injury required 9 months of recovery, causing him to miss the 2021 season. Persistent as ever, Lewis made his MLB debut for the Twins on May 6, 2022, and hit his first career home run, which happened to be a GRAND SLAM, off Cleveland Guardians reliever Bryan Shaw on May 13!
He became only the second player in Twins history to hit a grand slam for his first career home run, joining Danny Valencia in 2010. Royce Lewis is ready for the Twin Cities, the only question is, are the Twin Cities ready for Royce Lewis??
