FORT MYERS, FLA. – Joe Smith has a feeling that this is the "right place, right time" for him to be a Twin, and he thought so even before Saturday's hitless-inning debut, even though the indicators have little to do with his pitches or the Twins' bullpen needs.

It's the fact that Hammond Stadium is so close to Highway 41, which was his wife's late cousin's number in high school. And that the Twins play in Lee County, and his mother's name was Lee. And that he and his wife — longtime CBS and Turner sportscaster Allie LaForce — have an appointment on Monday at an address that ends in 44, which was the number of the school bus his grandmother drove "forever."

His in-laws have a lot of faith that such things are all signs of a greater power, Smith said, "and all of a sudden now, I'm starting to believe it, too. I see these numbers, I'm like, 'God dang, man, she's following me! Grandma's following me!' I don't know — everything just kind of seems to be going right."

Now just imagine if the veteran righthander's uniform number was 17. Because that's the number of children he and his wife are indirectly responsible for.

Smith, 38, and LaForce are the founders of HelpCure HD, a nonprofit that provides financial support to couples like themselves who are trying to have children through in-vitro fertilization in order to avoid passing on Huntington's disease, a genetic brain disease that claimed his grandmother and mother. Smith opted out of the abbreviated 2020 MLB season to care for his mother.

"It gets expensive, like $35,000, $40,000, and insurance doesn't cover it. So we raise money and we help out families," Smith said. "So far, I think we've got 17 babies that have been born [through IVF] and we're getting close to 100 people going through it."

By using fertilized eggs that have been tested and found not to carry the Huntington's gene, parents can put a stop to the passed-down-through-generations disease. But it can be a fraught process, too, as Smith and LaForce know too well. A pregnancy ended in miscarriage last year, a trauma that LaForce revealed publicly in order to help others who go through similar anguish.

LaForce is eight weeks pregnant again, via IVF, and on Monday, Smith said, a doctor will try to detect a heartbeat. "It'll either be a good thing or a bad thing," Smith said. "We'll see. No matter how much science is behind it, everything doesn't always pan out."

Which is why the constantly upbeat Smith — whose major league career is already 17 years long — isn't too worried about how well he'll pitch this season.

"It's just life — you roll with the punches and stay positive and see what happens," he said. "Family is everything, man. The more you have around, the more friends that turn into family, it just makes life more fun."

Lewis to Saints

Royce Lewis "has seemed like a little kid" this spring, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said, "just trying to get back on the field, extraordinarily excited about everything."

He got something else to be excited about Saturday. The Twins assigned the 22-year-old shortstop prospect to Class AAA St. Paul to start this season, allowing him to resume his career at the highest minor league level despite playing only 33 games in Class AA, and that back in 2019.

The decision came down to "where his development is, some of the work he's put in and the way he's been able to come back physically and confidence-wise from the injury," Baldelli said of Lewis, the overall No. 1 pick in 2017 who returned this spring from knee surgery that sidelined him all of last season. "[It's] where we thought he fit best and what was best for him."

In addition to Lewis, the Twins also sent infielders Austin Martin, Spencer Steer and Aaron Sabato to the minor league camp on Saturday, with specific assignments still to be determined.

Etc.

• Carlos Correa will make his Twins spring debut Sunday against the Red Sox at Hammond Stadium. The game will be televised by BSN.
• Tim Beckham, trying to make the Twins as a utility infielder, left Saturday's game because of a "lower extremity" injury, the team announced, and will be evaluated again Sunday.