Twins Minor League Report (5/24): Royce Lewis Can't Stop Homering

[Matt Braun]

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints

TRANSACTIONS
No moves were made on Sunday.

Saints Sentinel
St. Paul 3, Omaha 5
Box Score
Ty Langenberg: 3 2/3 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
HR: Royce Lewis (6), Kyler Fedko (11)
Multi-hit games: Royce Lewis (2-for-3, HR, R, RBI, BB)

The Saints came up short on Sunday.

The day started with the sun rising in the East, so Royce Lewis homered. In six games with St. Paul in 2026, he’s collected eight hits, six of them homers, giving him the hilarious .348/.400/.1.130 slash line. Yes, that’s his slugging, not his OPS. It appears something about the demotion has improved his play.

Will it be enough to earn a spot back on the major league roster? Or, in other words, what exactly does he need to prove to return to the Twins? Bashing the brains out of AAA pitchers is nice and all, but is that all he needs to do?

Speaking of guys homering a lot, Kyler Fedko launched one as well. He now has an OPS of 1.165 in May, even better than what the incoming tweet says. It's unclear whether he can find a spot on the major league roster, and history says the Twins probably won't promote him, but someone somewhere should probably give him a look. Lest his play be wasted in the margins of reports like this. 

Ty Langenberg’s introduction to AAA baseball continued to be rocky; the hurler surrendered three runs in 3 ⅔ frames, giving him a 5.40 ERA at the level with 10 hits allowed across 6 2/3 innings. 

With Carter Jensen now in the big leagues, the Storm Chasers lack an imposing top prospect. Their best youngster is 26th-ranked outfielder Gavin Cross, who was once a big deal, but has struggled mightily at AAA. He collected three hits in four at-bats on Sunday.

Wind Surge Wisdom
Wichita 8, Tulsa 4
Box Score
Cory Lewis: 3 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 0 K
HR: Maddux Houghton (2)
Multi-hit games: None

A Maddux Houghton grand slam fueled a Wind Surge win on Sunday.

Despite the byline, matters started poorly. Following an ordinary-enough caught stealing of Kyle DeBarge and a swinging strikeout of Garrett Spain, in which there was one close—but correct—called strike, Jaime Ferrer attempted to take his at-bat. Suddenly, the first base umpire ejected Spain, and coach Julian Gonzalez—after an impressive George Brett impression following the infamous “pine tar” decision—was tossed as well. What precisely they were upset about, this author could not parse.

Tulsa soon took a 3-0 lead.

But Wichita rallied. They plated a run in the third before loading the bases for Maddux Houghton, now in the game for the ejected Spain. Naturally, he launched one 434 feet, way beyond the bullpens and off the scoreboard for a dramatic grand slam.

Because something nefarious cursed this game, more oddities were afoot, with two runs scoring in the fifth off a truly bizarre play. “Poncho Ruiz advances to 3rd, on a fielding error by left fielder Zyhir Hope” reads the Gameday description, and the casual observer is robbed of an experience. Indeed, Hope butchered what should have been a catch; but only one should have—and would have—scored, had the cutoff Tulsa infielder not committed the rare triple clutch on his relay attempt.

The aforementioned Hope ranks as the 20th-best prospect in baseball, according to MLB.com. He singled and walked in five plate appearances. 

Kernels Nuggets
Cedar Rapids 3, Peoria 5
Box Score
Riley Quick: 2 2/3 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Marek Houston (3-for-5, 2 2B, R) Brandon Winokur (2-for-3, 2 RBI)

The Kernels surrendered late to lose on Sunday.

It happened. Riley Quick finally bled. His numbers at Cedar Rapids entering Sunday represented a step back from the cartoonish dominance he displayed in April, perhaps not a surprise given the promotion and the high standard he set for himself. And Sunday was the nadir: he surrendered three runs in less than three innings, with a second inning three-run homer proving to be his downfall. It was due to happen eventually. Because he’s Riley Quick, though, seven of his eight outs were on strikes; the only straggler was a soft tapper back to the mound. He should be just fine.

The Cedar Rapids lineup was mostly empty on Sunday: no player south of Khadim Diaw, batting fourth, earned a hit. Marek Houston shined in the leadoff spot, however, counting three hits with two of them being doubles. It’s his second straight Sunday with three hits.

Brandon Winokur was workmanlike in the three-hole, singling twice and driving in two of his teams three runs on the day.

Garrett Horn returned to the mound as a Kernel on Sunday, pitching three shutout innings while striking out two. The lefty was acquired for Danny Coulombe at last year’s trade deadline. 

The Chiefs are an affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. Once a talent powerhouse, the system has fallen a bit as the once eminent baseball force searched fora new identity in a changing prospect landscape; on Sunday, the best the Chiefs could offer was the franchise's 28th-ranked prospect, Jack Gurevitch. He singled and walked in four plate appearances.

Mussel Matters
Fort Myers 2, Dunedin 3
Box Score
Kolten Smith: 4 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
HR: Enrique Jimenez (1)
Multi-hit games: Enrique Jimenez (2-for-3, HR, 2 R, RBI, BB), Ryan Sprock (2-for-3, 2B, BB)

The Mighty Mussels were too meager on Sunday.

Enrique Jimenez provided the memorable spark in this one, obliterating a fastball out to right-center in the fourth for his first homer of the season. The 20-year-old Venezuelan is an intriguing prospect: though less heralded than Eduardo Tait, he, too, was a switch-hitting catcher acquired at last year’s trade deadline—and in 23 games for Fort Myers, he nearly walked as much as he struck out while slugging .551. We shall see what he can do this year.

Rehabbing big leaguer Nathan Lukes played for Dunedin on Sunday. He went 0-2 as the DH.

Once again, the opposing team in one of these games claimed a Top 50 prospect. This one was JoJo Parker, a shortstop the Blue Jays took in the first round of the 2025 draft. He went 0-3.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Garrett Horn
Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Royce Lewis

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:
#2 – Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 1-4, R, 2 K
#5 – Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 0-1, K
#7 – Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 3-5, 2 2B, R, K
#8 – Riley Quick (Cedar Rapids) - 2 2/3 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K
#10 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Twins) - 2-4, 2 R, RBI, BB
#13 – Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - 1-4, 2B
#14 – Quentin Young (Fort Myers) - 1-3, BB, K
#15 – Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 2-3, 2 RBI, K
#17 – C.J. Culpepper (St. Paul) - 2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
#19 – Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) - 1-3, RBI
#20 – Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 1-3 R, 2 BB, K

MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Wichita @ Springfield (4:35 PM) - TBD
FCL Pirates @ FCL Twins (11:00 AM) - TBD

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[RpR]

Waite until the MiIB coaches tell  pitchers where to pitch him. 

[twinstalker]

Holy crap.  Lewis has figured it out!  Finally.  And to think the key to hitting well was simply to face AAA pitching.  If he can bring that to MLB, he'll be unstoppable.

[Sampson5]

Good to see royce hitting bombs again he will get another chance at some point doubt they rush him back because he's hitting AAA pitching for a week probably gonna take a month barring a injury to lee since he's playing 3rd . My question is what are they having him work on because that will be what he has to fix before twins call him back up my guess would be limiting the k's and using the whole field instead of only trying to hit homers like he's been doing this year . With lee playing 3rd I'm wondering if we see Culpeper in the mlb because we see royce again not to mention arcia & kriedler playing to well currently to rush Royce up after a few good games imo

[Major League Ready]

Let's hope it's a confidence thing with Lewis and this reset at AAA is just exactly what he needs.  I am skeptical but it would be very unfortunate if he becomes a AAAA player.   We should all be rooting for this young man's future to be a productive member of the ML club.

[rv78]

 It appears something about the demotion has improved his play.

A simple explanation is........... AAA pitchers are not Major League pitchers. I wonder how many of the 6 home runs have been hit to the opposite field. My guess is ZERO. You can be pull happy in the minors and get away with it, but in the majors it will be exploited by opposing pitchers. In other words, he hasn't changed his approach or made any adjustments that would warrant a call back up to the majors. At this point, all he has proven is that it looks like he is a top minor leaguer and may never have success in the majors. 

[JD-TWINS]

I’ve been as down on his performance this year and much of last year as anyone. Calling for him to be sent down 3 weeks plus earlier than it happened.

That said, 24 months ago, he was “the one guy we can’t consider trading….” & that was based on MLB results to that point. It’s a willingness with his approach to hit the ball hard to Right Center - control the strike zone better (see Austin Martin’s changes) - and having actual (not visual w/eye black & grins) CONFIDENCE that he’s able to handle MLB pitching. I guess that’s “hitting 101” but we’ve seen him do these things ………… hope he finds his way back!

Don’t want to entertain a call-up until he can maintain this high level AAA play for another 3 weeks - he needs to toughen mentally for a bit.

[TJSweens]

By the time Lewis was demoted, he looked thoroughly frustrated and like he was overthinking everything. Everything about his game was mechanical and nothing was natural. 

Mayba AAA has allowed him to relax and just see ball-hit ball. Rediscovering the joy of pounding the snot out of the ball should boost his confidence a lot. So much of hitting is simply confidence. 

[TJSweens]

I see Lewis the same way I saw Buxton when constant trips to the IL seemed to derail his development. 

Too much talent, too much dedication, too much work ethic to fail 

[jmlease1]

It's great seeing Lewis hit bombs against AAA pitching, but that's not going to get him an immediate bounce back call-up, and I think the Twins staff will have explained that to him. He's got to show that he is addressing the things that ruined him in MLB: not being able to hit fastballs in the zone, flailing at breaking pitches away, showing poor pitch recognition, and so on. It's great for his confidence to murder a mistake, but the process matters as much as the results for him, and the difference between AAA pitching and MLB pitching is substantial. But if he can do a re-set in Saint Paul, find his smile again, and come back ready to roll then that's excellent news. I remain baffled by the people who seem to prefer that he fail?

Quick is fascinating. He hunts K's like nobody's business and can just overpower guys, which is very fun. 10 BBs in 20 1/3 innings says he needs some work, though. Upside feels very high, and the floor is pretty dang high too, so looking forward to seeing where he is in another month. Just want to see him get a full season and at least another 50-60 innings innings in, even if he stays at Cedar Rapids the rest of the year.

[Fatbat]

Should have optioned him a year ago for a couple months of reset. He will be back and be a star again. Its 💯 mental. 
It would be awesome to see Fedko promoted and continue hammering the ball thereby proving our mlb braintrust incompetent. 

[Linus]

I would rather see Royce hitting doubles to right / center. We know he can yank a cookie to left. 

[JD-TWINS]

FEDKO Love is a little overstated in my opinion - the guy hit .227 at AA in ‘24.

In ‘25 he got to St Paul at beginning of August and had pretty solid numbers

In ‘26 his numbers standout …….. he’s played 84 TOTAL games over parts of 2 seasons at AAA.

People here stating the front office is incompetent for not already having him on the MLB roster is nuts, IMO.

AAA is “easy for Lewis” but Fedko’s success over a relatively short period has him MLB ready ………. I’ll leave it to the baseball people to make baseball decisions on talent and readiness.

This is the same “worthless front office” that kept Gray - Kreidler - Arcia around while many here wanted to, “play the young guys and see how they do” …….. that’s what AAA is gor

[bean5302]

3 hours ago, rv78 said:

 It appears something about the demotion has improved his play.

A simple explanation is........... AAA pitchers are not Major League pitchers. I wonder how many of the 6 home runs have been hit to the opposite field. My guess is ZERO. You can be pull happy in the minors and get away with it, but in the majors it will be exploited by opposing pitchers. In other words, he hasn't changed his approach or made any adjustments that would warrant a call back up to the majors. At this point, all he has proven is that it looks like he is a top minor leaguer and may never have success in the majors. 

Nobody hits oppo tacos at the MLB level anymore, dude. Nobody. It virtually never happens because of pitch velocity and swing design needed to counteract the increased velocity.

In any case, I agree with you that Lewis' plate approach is the key. Stop swinging at junk is his #1 directive. Show he can catch up to mid 90s fastballs on the outside edges of the plate is #2. Make contact on stuff outside the zone is #3.

[bean5302]

Lewis needs to do more than punish AAA pitchers. He needs to punish them in a way which demonstrates he can do more than hit mistakes.

His approach needs to be better, and he needs to stabilize that approach. I wouldn't call him back up until mid June. He needs to form the habit of making better decisions at the plate, and he needs to better understand the gravity of making bad decisions (not playing in the big show.)

Lewis is my favorite player. I want him to get his swagger back, his confidence, and to stop being so panicked at the plate. If that happens, I think he'll be at least All Star worthy, and could be a big face of the franchise. The guy has crazy charisma, and this team desperately, desperately needs a fan favorite like him.

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

Has Royce Lewis become a AAAA player? 

He is destroying AAA pitching but looked so lost against MLB pitching. I hope he figures it out. 

[rv78]

2 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Nobody hits oppo tacos at the MLB level anymore, dude. Nobody. It virtually never happens because of pitch velocity and swing design needed to counteract the increased velocity.

In any case, I agree with you that Lewis' plate approach is the key. Stop swinging at junk is his #1 directive. Show he can catch up to mid 90s fastballs on the outside edges of the plate is #2. Make contact on stuff outside the zone is #3.

Aaron Judge currently has 17 HRs. 9 of the 17 have been hit to center or right. I guess he's a nobody.

[jkcarew]

2 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Nobody hits oppo tacos at the MLB level anymore, dude. Nobody.

Huh??? Numerous players hit them with regularity. James Wood hit 4 in one homestand recently. You can look it up easily. Lots of players.

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, rv78 said:

Aaron Judge currently has 17 HRs. 9 of the 17 have been hit to center or right. I guess he's a nobody.

Judge has 3 right field home runs this year, 6 if you count the center field homers which are to the right field side of dead center. He has 17 on the season.

@jkcarew please provide me with the source for easy lookup. In the top 30 HR hitters, Woods looks to be the only guy with more opposite field home runs than pulled home runs. Of course, I didn't get out the protractor for Bryce Haper and Sal Stewart who are spray hitters/center field homer guys. Look at the hits spray charts. Don't even look at the name or the bats R/L. 90% of the time, you can tell whether a hitter bats right or left just by the heat map. 5% of the time, they're a switch hitter.

If it makes you feel better to argue semantics, I suppose?

[DocBauer]

First things first: Lewis is WAY too good for AAA. But it's NOT about yanking AAA pitching for HR. He has been guessing on pitches, seemingly deciding to swing no mattwr what before the pitch is even thrown, hardly ever working the count, and he has opened up his hitting zone to be 8-10" outside, and all the way up to eye level.

Assuming there isn't a vision issue, he has ZERO plan at the plate, and has lost any conception of a personal hitting zone. When he BB more...and did have one yesterday...and starts to lace some hard hit singles and some doubles, he'll be on the right track. But I think he needs a good 4 weeks at AAA.

And I'm sorry, I've been a believer and defender, but he needs to take ownership over his own career. I understand frustration, but NOBODY is out to get him or wants to see him fail. The Twins and the fans WANT him to succeed. The coaches are only trying to HELP him. Shelton has gone out of his way before the season to embrace him and his potential and importance. His mindset is not only about a better approach, it's also an acceptance he owns his own career.

On to the rest!

AAA:

Langenberg has maybe been pushed a little hard this season, possibly Gallagher as well, but I don't mind doing so. They're probably both back end SP with an upside of a #3. But that's a valuable arm if it comes to pass. BOTH are still adjusting to the AAA level. What I care about is how they are throwing in July and August, not now.

And for goodness sake, Fedko is obviously behind 5 other OF bats. But that doesn't mean a late blooming season in 2025 and tremendous production since the calender turned to May should be completely ignored. Maybe there's something we don't see or know about that questions his ability to hit ML pitching. But he hits, has power, runs well, and can help at 4 spots. The kid deserves an honest look at some point, with someone, even if is not the Twins.

AA: 

Cory Lewis hasn't had a lot go right for him the past 1 1/3 seasons. But I'm happy to see him healthy and back on the mound. I think his future is in the bullpen for 1-2 IP, throwing as hard as he can, mixing in a couple different pitches here and there, and using that crazy knuckleball to freeze hitters. But right now, it's just about getting his command back.

A+: (Note: the box score link is to a different game).

So Quick is human huh? Who woulda thunk it? He's going to be fine. It's still his rookie profession season. I still wouldn't be surprised to see him in AA for August.

Winokur got off to a bad start, and his numbers reflect that. But he's been really good the last 3 weeks or so. I think we should be watching him more closely. 

Houston might not be tearing the cover off the ball, but he's been very solid across his entire quad slash line so far in 2026, and is showing POP exists in his bat. And he's also running well. He doesn't have to have an amazing bat to be a really good ML SS. I'd be surprised if he doesn't reach AA come July.

Garrett Horn, when acquired, was labeled as an "indirect" replacement for Coulombe. Despite being a starter in 2025...across 3 different levels in what was his professional rookie season...his IP was limited. His BB per were way too high, but the HITS per 9 were good, and he averaged 12 K's per 9. Glad to have him back on the mound again. This might be the rare example of a recently drafted prospect going straight to the pen to be developed. Although, the Rangers did draft him relatively high in the 6th round.

A-:

Colton Smith didn't have a crazy good career at Georgia, but he did have high K numbers. The Twins saw potential and grabbed him in the 12th round in last year's draft. So far he's off to a great start.

Just nice to see Enrique Jimenez back playing again. He was a nice surprise after coming over from Detroit last season at the deadline. Hope he stays healthy for the remainder of the season and finishes strong.