The Twins optioned infielder Royce Lewis to Triple-A a couple of weeks ago. Since then, he has hit eight home runs and slashed .367/.446/.939. He has also started expanding his defensive versatility. He played first base yesterday and was at second base the day before.
Late last month, it was fair to wonder if Lewis’s time with the Twins was coming to an end. He has shown huge talent at times but has struggled to stay healthy. Last year, he got into a career-high 106 games but hit just .237/.283/.388. Here in 2026, he put up a .163/.261/.279 line while striking out 31.1% of the time.
When the Twins decided to send him down to the minors, they moved shortstop Brooks Lee to cover third base, which had been Lewis’s primary position. Shortstop prospect Kaelen Culpepper is killing it in Triple-A, so it looked like the left side of the infield was set for the long term. Lewis has already qualified for arbitration, making $2.85MM this season. Given his struggles and the roster picture, it looked like he was trending towards a non-tender.
But as mentioned, his bat has immediately picked up since being sent down to Saint Paul. In addition to the home runs, he has only struck out at a 19.6% pace since the demotion. It’s obviously easier to put up good numbers against Triple-A pitching but the Twins are well aware that Lewis can hit in the majors. In 2022 and 2023, Lewis was limited by injuries to just 280 plate appearances but put up a monster .307/.364/.549 line in those.
Defensively, Lewis has mostly been at the hot corner. The Twins toyed with moving him to second base in 2024 but he logged just eight innings at the position at that time. He didn’t play the position again until this week’s game with the Saints. Yesterday was his first professional game as a first baseman.
If he can handle the new spots competently, and his resurgence at the plate holds, then he has a path back to the big leagues. Luke Keaschall is getting most of the playing time at the keystone and is controlled for many years to come but he is hitting just .245/.321/.316 so far this year. He had a dreadful March/April, got hot in May, but has cooled off again in June. Obviously, the current month is a very small sample, so Keaschall’s season-long performance is still trending up after a cool start. But he does have options if the Twins ever decide he needs a reset.
First base is far more open. Most of this year’s time at that spot has gone to Kody Clemens, Josh Bell and Victor Caratini. Ever since Ryan Jeffers suffered a hamate fracture in mid-May, Caratini has been the primary catcher. Bell is hitting just .227/.289/.345 on the year, so there’s an argument for reducing his playing time. He is also an impending free agent, so he’s not a part of the long-term picture.
Clemens is having a good year at the plate but can be moved elsewhere. The Twins have been using him in all three outfield spots this year. Matt Wallner getting optioned to the minors opened some time in the corners, though Trevor Larnach and Austin Martin are doing well in those spots. Clemens’ ability to cover center field, and Bell spending more time at first, has opened the designated hitter spot for Byron Buxton. A hip issue caused Buxton to miss some time recently but the Twins obviously want his bat in the lineup, so having that flexibility is huge for them.
Add it all up and the future for Lewis in Minnesota looks a bit more possible. Presumably, the Twins would like him to play a few more games at first base and get comfortable there, but there is a path for him to return and carve out a role in the big leagues again. If they don’t want to wait on that process, perhaps he could retake the third base job and push Lee back to short. Culpepper hasn’t been called up yet and the Twins have a Tristan Gray, Ryan Kreidler, Orlando Arcia rotation covering short for now. Regardless of the position, if Lewis comes up and performs well over the next few months, he can be retained via arbitration for the 2027 and 2028 seasons.
Photo courtesy of Jesse Johnson, Imagn Images
