Lewis, who finished Cactus League play with a .423 average (11-for-26) with three home runs and five RBI over 12 games, benefited significantly from the first healthy offseason of his professional baseball career, Greg Johns of MLB.com reports. "Last year I didn't really have much of an offseason because I had a knee scope in February, missed Spring Training and was thrown right into the season," Lewis said, crediting training two months with the Mariners in Arizona and another two months in Florida for his big jump in production from last season to this spring. "I just focused on my overall strength, body control, balance."

EDGE Analysis

Lewis' batting average was just shy of Jay Bruce's team-leading .433, a sign of just how successful his first exposure to big-league arms was. The 23-year-old has been besieged by injuries since Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto made him the first first-round pick of his tenure, but the clean bill of health he's enjoyed since the latter portion of last season clearly paid dividends this spring. Lewis will still open the season at Double-A Arkansas, but an ascension to Triple-A Tacoma is very likely at some point in the coming campaign if he's able to replicate a similar caliber of play.