Time Is Running Out For Royce Lewis

[DJL44]

5 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

Julien 107 OPS+ to end today.

And still unplayable in the field. The Twins have enough LH platoon DH.

[PatG]

My uneducated opinion: Royce needs to hit singles/doubles to right field (gap) for a bit.  Get his timing right then go from there.  See the ball for longer in the "hitting zone".  He used to be a .300 hitter, line drive machine.

He loves the Buxton HRs to left field, tries to emulate.  Royce, those will come, get your timing back.

For that matter, who wouldn't like to see Buxton get a couple bunt hits per week!! (average higher, his bunt singles immediately turn into doubles)

[David Maro]

The mistake made was bringing him back after 2 rehab games in St Paul. Should have stayed for at least a week. At this point he is unplayable because of his bat. And yes he did have a sac fly the other night,but even a blind squirrel finds a nut.

[bean5302]

10 hours ago, USAFChief said:

LOL.

In the same post no less.

Man, I wish some of you guys could be GM for a day (not of the Twins) so I could watch you absolutely ruin a franchise in under 2 weeks, LOL

[Woof Bronzer]

25 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Man, I wish some of you guys could be GM for a day (not of the Twins) so I could watch you absolutely ruin a franchise in under 2 weeks, LOL

Whereas YOU would lead this hypothetical team to a pennant, amirite?

[terrydactyls]

19 hours ago, bunsen82 said:

Miranda also has a bit of an issue similar to Lee where the contact rates are decent and they tend to get weaker contact on pitchers pitches that either lead to increased ground balls or weaker contact.     

As I read this sentence, Lewis tends to get weaker contact on pitchers (should be pitcher's) pitches (rather redundant - who else would throw pitches?) and getting weaker contact leads to "weaker contact".  

[USAFChief]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

Man, I wish some of you guys could be GM for a day (not of the Twins) so I could watch you absolutely ruin a franchise in under 2 weeks, LOL

If I were a GM, I'd avoid using small sample sizes of offense, snipped from large samples, as proof of concept. Particularly while simultaneously mocking the use of small sample sizes of defense.

And just so we're clear...is it your contention the Twins franchise is on great shape these days?

Edited May 7 by USAFChief

[terrydactyls]

17 hours ago, darwin22 said:

Absolutely agree that Lewis should be demoted. His reaction will be a telling sign of his commitment to his teammates and this organization.  I don't know the answer to that, but wonder IF this should happen does Lewis have the maturity and professionalism to handle it?  His persona...the infamous quote..": I don't do slumps" has sure seemed to boomerang on him.  In no way shape or form should management give up on him and grant him his release should he and his agent call for it.  He needs to take a step back and show some humility, which I doubt he's ever done.  Time to get to work Royce and take responsbility for your words and actions.

Maybe, just maybe, Lewis doesn't do slumps.  Maybe he is actually bad hitting, bad fielding player who had a short anomaly in 2023.

[terrydactyls]

17 hours ago, bean5302 said:

First 12 games for Royce Lewis before IL 45PA .222/.378/.444 OPS .822 wRC+ 133 17.8% BB, 26.7% K, .273 BABIP

Next 11 games after his return 44PA .122/.159/.195 OPS .354 wRC+ (7) 2.3% BB, 34.1% K, .154 BABIP

Royce Lewis was hitting at an All Star level two weeks ago. Folks around here have their pitchforks flailing at everybody. Lewis is clearly hyper aggressive right now, and he has been since he came back up. He needs to settle down a bit.

Also, it's hack writing to be making definitive statements about defensive prowess based on 20 games for DRS/OAA. As I pointed out on another thread yesterday, the best defensive 2B in all of baseball by a substantial margin right now is Luis Arraez. 

In the two games before going on the IL, Lewis had two consecutive games against Detroit which raised his average from .172 to .222.  After that, it's been all downhill.

[stringer bell]

No Lewis in the lineup two days in a row. Royce should be getting the message. Remember, it was a day off for Lee that got him started. Maybe today is tge day that gets him going. 

[Riverbrian]

I understand that many of the folks on Twinsdaily are not excited about Tristan Gray on the roster and I understand that many consider him to be bench and would rather not see him in the lineup. I understand that there is pretty much no expectation for Tristan today or in the future especially in consideration of his advanced age of 30. 

I frequently talk about the need for 26 players who can play. I frequently talk about competition... I frequently talk about pre-determination. 

Royce Lewis is why. 

Forget about future expectations. Tristan Gray has been a better baseball player than Royce Lewis. Over 89 PA's for Royce and 64 for Tristan. Will he remain a better baseball player as the season progresses... We will find out. 

As for right now... Royce sitting for two days... I have no problem with that.  

 

[old guy]

I fail to see what sense it makes to worry about keeping Wallner and Lewis out there.  As long as you have a pitcher like Banda who can come in and totally destroy a game, it doesn't matter.  I'm thinking a better choice would be a pitching coach change.

[Squirrel]

12 hours ago, old guy said:

I fail to see what sense it makes to worry about keeping Wallner and Lewis out there.  As long as you have a pitcher like Banda who can come in and totally destroy a game, it doesn't matter.  I'm thinking a better choice would be a pitching coach change.

A new coach isn’t suddenly going to change a pitcher with not enough talent into one with talent. The problem is our BP is not good because of the players not because of the coach.

[RpR]

On 5/6/2026 at 4:22 PM, DJL44 said:

If you send down Lewis to AAA your only choice to replace him is someone worse than Royce Lewis.

There is no AAA glove  worse than Lewis.

[RpR]

On 5/6/2026 at 1:54 PM, Fire Dan Gladden said:

There is a lot of "Matt Wallner" here. Someone with all the tools, yet can't seem to put it all together consistently. Are we looking at another "change of scenery" candidate?

All the tools, only in TD.

All the tools means being able to adjust from Minor League play to Major League play.

 

[jmlease1]

9 hours ago, RpR said:

There is no AAA glove  worse than Lewis.

Royce was fine at 3B last season; notably our first basemen are giving no one any help this season, which is a significant change from last year. I'm not that worried about the defense, because it simply won't matter if he can't hit, and the OPS+ of 60 is far and away the bigger problem than his glove.

The "send him to saint paul" idea is easy to spout off on at TwinsDaily, but it's more complicated IRL when you have to deal with actual people and not a statistical profile on bRef. (cue people screaming about "they're professionals, who cares about their feelings!" in 3...2...1...) You have to manage the psyche and personalities and the impact on the clubhouse and the player's career as well. From what we've seen so far, I doubt a demotion would go over well with Royce. At a certain point that won't matter as much, but it's still early in a season (I don't think this team is competitive with this bullpen, so I don't care about trying to "save the season") and demotion isn't the only tool in the bag.

They're reducing his playing time, trying to work with him to make adjustments, and if that's not working and he can't start hitting fastballs again...he probably will go down. Hopefully someone like Culpepper is ready to come up and replace him. The fact that Brooks Lee is hitting well enough to be a producer at 3B (where his defense will play better) and Culpepper has been good so far in AAA (good, not great) should be putting some pressure on Lewis. That might end up making him worse, sadly.

I wish him luck. He's a likable player and brought some great moments to the team. But if he keeps getting pushed around at the plate, he's in real trouble. It's not small samples any longer.