Royce Lewis Returns: Trading the Hot Corner for DH Duties Makes Most Sense for Twins Slugger

I’m really sorry to see the ‘fall’ of Julien as a hitter. I really thought he was going to be an impact hitter for the Twins. His 2022 minor league season was strong. 300 BA, 930 OPS and 17 homers. I saw hem in 2023 spring training and it seemed like every ball he hit was a line drive. When he came up as a rookie, he had a solid year including 17 home runs. Then 2024 happened. I was hoping that was an aberration and he would come back strong in 2025. No such luck.

i think he was changing his mechanics and it became a mental thing. I remember last April, he hit 6 or 7 homers. The first 5 or 6 were hit to left field. His 6th or 7th was pulled to RF. I remember his interview with Audra after the game. She asked him about RF homer. Eddie smiled and said he was working hard on his swing to pull the ball more. I thought why change your swing when you’re already having success. Who cares if your hits go left or right, as long as they’re hits.

Enough of the "rotating" infielders between positions and DH, OK?  Put the man where you think he will give you his best and let him play; that goes for everyone else on the team as well.  We don't need half a dozen utility players and a handful of "regulars" doing circles around the diamond.  Put him at third until he proves he sucks too much to stay there; if that happens we will move him.  

Not every position is so flexible that any player can just slide into it depending on what lineup Rocco's spreadsheet calls for against a particular pitcher.  The players need a chance to solidify the position they play best and just play.  That frees up the mind to just play naturally and let their talent take over instead of always having to overthink every play of every inning.  

His quad/hamstring injuries the last two years have been when running the bases, which we'd all like to see him do MORE of.  Not sure DHing only is the answer.  

At what point do they start transitioning him to first base.  Or, like his "move" to 2B or Mirandas move to 1B in the past, maybe they just stick him over there without any preparation and expect him to miraculously suddenly be good at it.

I doubt they will make Lewis DH all the time but he's going to get his fair share.

3 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

How often do guys get hurt playing in the infield? Rarely.
How often does moving a guy off a position to DH make them healthier? Pretty much never, except for catchers.

How often do fans speculate such a change will make a guy healthier? Always. There is no significant increase in injury rate for infielders when it comes to leg issues like Royce has suffered from. If he's getting sore, sure, put him at DH in the short term if he needs to build up (but he really should be in AAA for that). That said, a full-time 3B gets about 3 chances a game to make a play so taking a setup position every time a pitcher throws a pitch is the extent of the load.

Royce Lewis should either be playing in the field or traded to a different team. There is literally a 20 run difference in value between DH and 3B, positionally, over the course of a year. It's night and day.

But it worked wonders with Buxton! 

5 minutes ago, GNess said:

Lewis injured his ACL playing in CF.

And injured himself slipping on the ice at his home. Playing DH isn't going to prevent that one.

If he is mainly a DH going forward,  this would have to be considered an abject failure in development. 

I think the knee injuries...especially the second one, were kind of a fluke. Hey...here's an idea...let's throw him out in CF? What's the worst that could happen? Well..it did. No doubt they were extremely unfortunate for him and the team. Buku bad luck. The hammy can happen to anyone...happens all the time. To make him the full time DH would be as bad as making Buxton the full time DH was. Lewis has to play the field...especially now. We need him out there. If the long term plan for him is to play 1st...then let's get him some reps there. Don't make him the full time DH. 

2 hours ago, Patzky said:

That's a decent lineup. Not sure how Larnach's defense will hold up but a Bader Buxton Wallner Emma outfield in 2025 sounds ok too.

I expect Emma to be a part of any significant trade that is made

1 hour ago, Mark G said:

Enough of the "rotating" infielders between positions and DH, OK?  Put the man where you think he will give you his best and let him play; that goes for everyone else on the team as well.  We don't need half a dozen utility players and a handful of "regulars" doing circles around the diamond.  Put him at third until he proves he sucks too much to stay there; if that happens we will move him.  

Not every position is so flexible that any player can just slide into it depending on what lineup Rocco's spreadsheet calls for against a particular pitcher.  The players need a chance to solidify the position they play best and just play.  That frees up the mind to just play naturally and let their talent take over instead of always having to overthink every play of every inning.  

This is not a "Rocco" approach, this is an MLB approach. Most every team cycles players through the DH to give them a rest. Blame Rocco for other things, but not this.

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

How often do guys get hurt playing in the infield? Rarely.
How often does moving a guy off a position to DH make them healthier? Pretty much never, except for catchers.

How often do fans speculate such a change will make a guy healthier? Always. There is no significant increase in injury rate for infielders when it comes to leg issues like Royce has suffered from. If he's getting sore, sure, put him at DH in the short term if he needs to build up (but he really should be in AAA for that). That said, a full-time 3B gets about 3 chances a game to make a play so taking a setup position every time a pitcher throws a pitch is the extent of the load.

Royce Lewis should either be playing in the field or traded to a different team. There is literally a 20 run difference in value between DH and 3B, positionally, over the course of a year. It's night and day.

I remember going through this discussion here a while back when it came to certain positions being more prone to injury and moving players to different position players to keep them healthy (Buxton out of CF was a big one). I do not believe there was any public empirical proof one way or another (other than catcher).

Lewis' bat is not good enough to warrant a full-time DH slot. They need to find the best position for him (3B, 1B, 2B, whatever) that the Twins feel will keep him in the lineup and make it work.

Royce was the number1 overall pick, primarily because of his athleticism. If he has to DH or play first this will be another developmental failure. Keaschall is not a good fielder and maybe worse than that yet some people want him to play 2nd, a position requiring athleticism, over Royce the top draft pick?  Makes no sense. 

50 minutes ago, mickster said:

I expect Emma to be a part of any significant trade that is made

I don't. This is a veterans-for-prospects deadline.