There’s No Room for Royce Lewis

[Greggory Masterson]

Let’s just call it as it is: It's been two and a half seasons since Royce Lewis was a good major leaguer. On June 22, 2024, Lewis woke up with a .996 career OPS (about 75% better than average) over 346 plate appearances. Since that day, Lewis has a .653 OPS (20% below average) in 1,171 trips to the plate. He has been a well-below-average hitter for more than three times as long as he was an exceptional hitter.

He’s had stretches in which he’s returned to form, including a 32-game (injury-interrupted) stretch in 2025 with an OPS over .900 between May 30th and July 28th, or a stretch between mid-May and early September in 2026 in which he sustained an OPS over .750 for 81 games. But the highs haven’t been high enough, and the lows have been too low for the Twins to count on Lewis as an impact hitter.

And this places both Lewis and the Twins in an awkward spot. Although Lewis is estimated by MLB Trade Rumors to command a modest $5.1 million in his second year of arbitration, his lack of production and the team’s current construction make it difficult to justify keeping Lewis in Minnesota in 2027. Even if Lewis believes his more well-compensated teammates are on the chopping block ahead of him, he may have already played his last game for the Twins.

So, let’s talk about how Lewis fits on the 2027 squad.

Lewis the Starter
Lewis played a career-high 125 games in the majors this season (plus an additional 15 in the minors). He lost the third base job to Brooks Lee, but he saw nearly everyday playing time after being recalled from Triple-A in June, playing 94 of the team’s final 97 games. He primarily played first base, but appeared 16 times at second base and nine times at third.

If the Twins were to run back the 2026 infield in 2027, Lewis would be the top candidate to start at first base on Opening Day, with Kody Clemens slotted in at second. Maybe they’d swap positions. But either way, the Twins probably didn’t have a serious offseason if that’s the case.

For someone who hadn’t played the position before, Lewis adapted well to playing first base, but he’s no Gold Glover there. Nor was he any better than average at second base. He didn’t hit like even an average first baseman, even after returning from Triple-A. Lewis slashed .245/.295/.409 in those final 94 games.

Given the Twins’ current roster (and barring Ryan Jeffers accepting the QO), adding a plus hitter at first or second base is the most straightforward way to upgrade the lineup. Even an anticlimactic addition like Gleyber Torres would be a substantial improvement over Lewis based on OPS alone (.727 last year for Torres compared to .667 for Lewis). It’s hard to justify Lewis filling an everyday role at first or second next season.

Lewis the Reserve
If Lewis shouldn’t be an everyday player, he could fit into a bench role. Or, perhaps, he could be fit into a bench role, whether it makes sense or not.

The Twins have done a poor job in recent seasons constructing a bench with real utility. Gone are the halcyon days of Willi Castro, Kyle Farmer, Donovan Solano, and Michael A. Taylor. Since 2024, the Twins bench has been made of spare parts, filled with redundant, superfluous, or incapable players who met the Walmart greeter standard: they were warm bodies.

Carrying Lewis in a bench role would continue this pattern. Valuable bench players have roles or specialties. Maybe they’re a pinch-running asset, maybe they’re a platoon partner, maybe they can play a difficult-to-defend position like shortstop, center field, or catcher. But they have a real use case. Lewis doesn’t do one thing that lends itself to such a role. He hasn’t played shortstop since playing one inning there in 2023, so the Twins would either need to carry a second bench infielder or stomach Lee being the primary backup shortstop—a difficult proposition, given his struggles there before sliding to third. Although Lewis plays a fine first, second, and third, he’s not good enough at any of those spots to justify being a defensive replacement. Nor has he played any outfield since tearing his ACL in 2022 while playing center field.

Lewis bats right-handed and could be a platoon candidate with an infielder like Clemens, who has historically struggled against lefties (career .627 OPS, 20% below league average). However, Lewis hasn’t demolished lefties in his career, with a .747 lifetime OPS against southpaws, just 8% better than league average. For context, that’s right in line with Austin Martin’s .745 OPS against lefties. Lewis has been a below-average hitter against lefties overall during the past two seasons. He simply doesn’t hit well enough to be a platoon partner.

He has been a good baserunner over the last year or so, making good decisions on the basepaths and going 28-for-31 as a base stealer over the past two seasons, but he doesn’t have the blazing speed you’d want from a dedicated pinch-runner. So, overall, Lewis has a middling-at-best bat that doesn’t offer a real platoon advantage. He has defensive flexibility, but you don’t love him at any position, and he doesn’t play shortstop. He runs well, but not enough to be a basepaths weapon. He does a bit of everything, just not terribly well.

There is a role like that. You’re more likely to see it from a fourth outfielder than a fifth infielder, but there are plenty of guys around the league who are just a half-step worse than a traditional everyday player but can give several players a day off a week. Think 2019 Marwin Gonzalez, if Lewis was willing and able to play the corner outfield spots as well (which is questionable).

But Gonzalez was a better hitter and fielder than Lewis has been over the last three seasons. It seems the more thought that goes into Lewis on the 2027 roster, the more it feels like we’re trying to find a way to make Lewis useful to the team, rather than including him because he’s actually useful. Really, the only way that he makes sense as an addition is if there's a real chance he can get closer to the player he was in his first 80 or so games, and it's quite easy to be skeptical of that. It's probably easier to be skeptical than optimistic there.

Especially if Lewis is unable to play in the outfield, the Twins would need to flank him on the bench with a shortstop, a catcher, and probably another outfielder (likely Alan Roden or Emmanuel Rodríguez). Lewis would be the team’s primary bench platoon bat, and he’d probably play three or four times a week, giving players days off at the three non-shortstop spots with questionable production.

It really seems like there’s a better way to build a roster than to shoehorn Lewis into one of the valuable 13 hitter spots. His admittedly modest $5.1 million estimated salary can probably be spent more efficiently at that.

Image courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

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[DJL44]

For that same money in free agency you could find someone who hits lefties better, but they will be a DH. You can find someone who fields better (Isaiah Kiner Falefa) but they won’t hit. Or they could just keep Royce.