Twins Daily 2024 Top Prospects: #7 Cory Lewis, RHP

[Nick Nelson]

Cory Lewis was named Twins' Minor League Pitcher of the Year in his first season with the organization. What's next for the righty and his intriguing high-speed knuckleball?

Age: 23 (DOB: 10/9/2000)
2023 Stats (A/A+): 101.1 IP, 2.49 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 10.5 K/9, 2.9 BB/9
ETA: 2025
2023 Ranking: NR

National Top 100 Rankings
BA: NR | MLB: NR | ATH: NR | BP: NR

What's To Like
After joining the organization as a ninth-round draft pick in 2022, Cory Lewis took the minor leagues by storm last year. In nine starts at Low-A Ft. Myers, he posted a 2.75 ERA to quickly earn a promotion to High-A. Lewis didn't miss a beat, going 5-1 with a 2.32 ERA in 13 starts for Cedar Rapids to close out an extremely successful first season in the system.

The 23-year-old right-hander works from a deep five-pitch mix, which he talked through with Twins Daily's Seth Stohs after last season. You've got all the standards here – four-seam fastball, changeup, curve, slider – but Lewis's repertoire is made unique by the inclusion of a knuckleball. It's not a conventional version of the pitch, buzzing to the plate in the mid-80s as opposed to the slow floaters that generally come to mind. He also doesn't use it like a conventional knuckleballer, throwing it only occasionally as a pace-changer rather than favoring it as his main weapon. Still, the pitch helped keep pro hitters off balance in Lewis's first foray against them, and looks like it will be a real asset in his growth.

Between the two levels of A-ball in 2023, Lewis allowed only 74 hits over 101 ⅓ innings, holding opponents to a .198 batting average that was among the lowest for all starters in the minors. "Adding in the knuckleball is what turns a tough at-bat into a brain-scrambler," according to Baseball America's scouting report. "He only throws it a few times a game, but it’s a weapon because hitters usually have never seen anything like it."

What's Left To Work On
There's a reason Lewis fell to the ninth round, signing for a relatively modest $140,000 out of UC Santa Barbara. He struggled with command in college, issuing 42 walks in 88 innings as a junior, and his fastball was in the upper 80s. He's added a few ticks since joining the Twins organization, but still doesn't regularly pump his heater into the mid-90s like many other top pitching prospects.

Lewis's fastball is known better for its riding movement than its velocity, and was an effective mainstay for him last year, but there are questions about how it will play against more advanced hitters. The same is true of his offspeed pitches, which aren't widely viewed by evaluators as plus offerings. However, Twins scouting director Drew MacPhail has stated that Lewis has "some of the best movement on his slider and changeup in our system."

The organization's reigning Minor League Pitcher of the Year should get a shot at Double-A this year, and the way he responds to that challenge will be telling. 

What's Next
Lewis deals from a bendy and flummoxing repertoire that dominated Single-A hitters when he threw it in the zone. His professional debut was a resounding success, convincingly placing him on the prospect radar. Entering 2024, Lewis stands out as most exciting from a group of college starters drafted in 2022 – including our No. 13 prospect C.J. Culpepper and No. 20 Zebby Matthews – that now comprises a bulk of Minnesota's pitching pipeline.

These hurlers will all be tested in key ways by taking the step to the upper minors, which is a central storyline for the system this year. Lewis gives plenty of reason to believe he's up to the task, especially if he increases the use of his bat-dodging knuckleball or amps up the rest of his arsenal. A late-season MLB debut is not out of the question, but realistically, some growing pains should probably be expected.

Twins Daily 2024 Top Prospects Countdown

20. Zebby Matthews, RHP
19. Simeon Woods Richardson, RHP
18. Ricardo Olivar, OF
17. Connor Prielipp, LHP
16. Matt Canterino, RHP
15. Yunior Severino, 1B
14. Danny De Andrade, SS
13. C.J. Culpepper, RHP
12. Kala'i Rosario, OF
11. Luke Keaschall, 2B
10. Tanner Schobel, 2B
9. Brandon Winokur, OF
8. Charlee Soto, RHP
7. Cory Lewis, RHP

Check back tomorrow to read about our pick for No. 6 on the list! For now, let's hear your thoughts on Cory Lewis. Is he the real deal, or will his flaws be exploited in Double-A?

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[D.C Twins]

I'm suspicious that Lewis has a bit too much helium as a prospect currently but I hope I'm wrong!

[Nashvilletwin]

Assuming Raya and Festa are in the top six, that would mean nine out of our top twenty prospects are pitchers, with all or most of them still projected as starters.  To go along with Lopez, Ryan, Ober and Varland, it would seem that over the next several years we will have a solid, young, fairly cheap, controllable, and deep starting corps - something we haven’t been able to say for a long time.

Hopefully, one or two of those nine could develop into a true #1, although it’s not clear who might be the candidates for that.  

[Blyleven2011]

Lewis  , Culpepper  and zebby Matthew's  all had good seasons  ...

Lewis should be the first one promoted to AA   and if things go well  he could be knocking on the door in a 2025 debut  ...

[jmlease1]

Lewis is a really interesting case and a bit of the showcase for development kind of player if he can continue to get it done. now, as a college player from a reasonably-sized school with a serious baseball program, I would hope that he would do well out the gate in low A, and the expectations for him in high A would be a little higher than a 20-year old kid as well.

That said...he's met those expectations. He had more starts and more innings in his first year as a pro and handled it well. He showed respectable control, solid numbers of Ks, and did a very nice job of keeping the ball in the park, while not being terribly easy to hit. he jumped all the way up to high A in his first season of pro ball and had ERAs that are hard to ignore.

I think AA will be a very good test for him. Can he keep throwing so many different pitches against more refined hitters? Will his stuff hold up, or does he need more velocity (or bite on the offspeed) to succeed? I'm excited to find out. If he can legitimately throw 6 different pitches...the guessing games involved might help his pitches all play up a bit more. how do you sit on a pitch when the guy can throw enough of them that you might never see that one in 2 ABs or more?

Plus, I love a knuckleball, at any velocity, so I'm rooting hard for this kid.

[roger]

Really like what this group of Twins scouts and draft guys have done by drafting college pitchers in the rounds following the first couple.

We have already seen Ober and Varland reach the majors with it appears several more on the way.  Considering how difficult it is to feel good after guys like Stewart and others flamed out, this sure seems to be working.  Expect a lot of credit is also due the pitching coaches in the system who are getting the most out of some of these guys.

Now if the doctors can get Prielipp and Canterino healthy, we just might have a lot of fun watching this team over the coming years. 

[sweetmusicviola16]

I like Lewis. We have become obsessed with 99-100mph pitches. We would now turn our noses up at Greg Maddux in his prime. Good Luck Cory, keep doing what has got you here.

[CCHOF5yearstoolate]

One word needed: Knuckleball!

The sterling 2.49 ERA across 2 levels is well supported by the 16th best K-BB% (20.6%) among 272 minor league pitchers with 100+ IP last season and the 6th best FIP (3.07). He had a very high IFFB rate at 32.1% which led to an unsustainably low HR/FB of 5.9%, but he's throwing a good amount of strikes and has been limiting walks after adding velo compared to his college days. Hard to call his first season anything but a glowing success. 

With any prospect, but particularly Lewis, I wouldn't be surprised if he deviates from his current upward trajectory for a season - particularly given that he seems likely to come back down to Earth in home run prevention and the difference in run-scoring environments between the A+ Midwest and AA Central leagues. 

However, he's improved substantially after only 1 year in the system and there's plenty to like in his profile. Maybe the 2022 draft will finally start to turn the pitching pipeline around. 

[EGFTShaw]

19 minutes ago, sweetmusicviola16 said:

I like Lewis. We have become obsessed with 99-100mph pitches. We would now turn our noses up at Greg Maddux in his prime. Good Luck Cory, keep doing what has got you here.

I love speed.
I have a Need for Speed.

But I think Greg Maddux might have been hands down the best pitcher in the modern era.  He knew how to pitch with stuff, as mentioned above, would be sneered at today.

He flat out could pitch.

I always wanted to hire Mike and Greg Maddux as my pitching coaches. 

I'll say this about the Twins Org, they are developing young pitchers.

[Linus]

I hope he makes it just for the knuckleball. He had a good year in A ball but he really should as a 23 year old college pitcher. This year will be a much bigger test. 

[nicksaviking]

2 hours ago, sweetmusicviola16 said:

I like Lewis. We have become obsessed with 99-100mph pitches. We would now turn our noses up at Greg Maddux in his prime. Good Luck Cory, keep doing what has got you here.

I loved Greg Maddux, but pitchers aren't throwing harder today just because they can, they're throwing harder because in today's game everyone can hit an 88 MPH fastball and umpires don't give 3 inches on each side of the plate to experienced veteran pitchers. Whether we like it or not, velocity matters a great deal.

I'm curious about Lewis' command. He struggled with walks in college, but not last year. Was it because he improved? Or was it due to 18-year-olds chasing his weird repertoire?

[Nick Nelson]

22 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

I'm curious about Lewis' command. He struggled with walks in college, but not last year. Was it because he improved? Or was it due to 18-year-olds chasing his weird repertoire?

Great question. This kind of summarizes where I'm landing with him at the moment. Performance against Double-A competition will be very telling. Be fun to see him and Raya both in the Wichita rotation.

[nicksaviking]

15 minutes ago, Nick Nelson said:

Great question. This kind of summarizes where I'm landing with him at the moment. Performance against Double-A competition will be very telling. Be fun to see him and Raya both in the Wichita rotation.

I hope it's not for long as Raya is the pitcher I am far and away the most excited about at any level. He obviously struggled early in Wichita, but his last five starts were utterly dominant. 

Sorry for the gushing Raya tangent, back to the excitement about Lewis projections. The Twins have been great at getting these later round pitchers to work out.

[Fatbat]

38 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

I loved Greg Maddux, but pitchers aren't throwing harder today just because they can, they're throwing harder today because in today's game everyone can hit an 88 MPH fastball and umpires don't give 3 inches on each side of the plate to experienced veteran pitchers. Whether we like it or not, velocity matters a great deal.

I'm curious about Lewis' command. He struggled with walks in college, but not last year. Was it because he improved? Or was it due to 18-year-olds chasing his weird repertoire?

This year will be telling if he can get the 21-24yo advanced hitters to bite.  He gets in their head and messes up their timing, he might get a fast track to the show. 

[DocBauer]

Love the pitch mix, but like everyone else, that power knuckler is so tantalizing. From the videos I've seen of it, I'm a little surprised he doesn't throw it a few more times a game.

Yes, at 23yo he should have been good at both levels of A ball, even as a "rookie." But he not only succeeded, he was really good. No question AA will be a bigger challenge, and one I can't wait to see the results from. While velocity isn't everything, I hope his goes up a notch or so. I had thought he was sitting 93-95mph consistently these days? 

[LewFordLives]

Thanks for these write ups and the videos. Some of us have heard the names, but we don't get to watch them play.

Lewis has kind of a funky delivery. He starts his windup with his glove lower down his chest than others. It seems to allow for a quick delivery and maybe makes his fastball seem faster than it is. 

[wabene]

10 hours ago, LewFordLives said:

Thanks for these write ups and the videos. Some of us have heard the names, but we don't get to watch them play.

Lewis has kind of a funky delivery. He starts his windup with his glove lower down his chest than others. It seems to allow for a quick delivery and maybe makes his fastball seem faster than it is. 

The MLB at bat app let's you listen to any big league game and you can choose which team's ratio broadcast to listen to. You also get video of every MiLB game on demand. It's now $29.95 a year. If Lewis pitches innings 1-5 of a game you could just go watch those half innings and fast forward the rest. Sometimes I wonder why I pay the $93 a month for the big league club. 

It keeps going up in price, but it's still a huge value. 

[Doctor Wu]

19 hours ago, Nashvilletwin said:

it would seem that over the next several years we will have a solid, young, fairly cheap, controllable, and deep starting corps - something we haven’t been able to say for a long time.

yes indeed! I can't remember when the Twins had this many quality pitching prospects in the minor leagues. A lot of young players to be excited about, or at least to be very hopeful. I hope this much vaunted pitching pipeline doesn't spring a leak!

[madtowntwin]

Bob Ueker when asked how to best catch an Niekro Knuckleball: "Wait until it stops rolling and pick it up...."

[Mike Sixel]

He starts in high A, right? He's an exciting prospect for sure. 

[saviking]

Kudos to our draft department. Without the ninth, thirteenth, and twentieth picks hitting we wouldn't have a pitching pipeline ..

[wombat28]

Draft everyone who's last name is Lewis except Jerry.

[JD Green]

Very interesting. Control will be his key with similar velocities on different pitches. Plus the knuckleball being in the back of the hitters mind should have an impact on the mind game. Should be fun to watch.