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Royce Lewis has put on quite the display of clutch hitting in a Twins lineup that needs saving seemingly on a nightly basis. His handful of monumental moments have been impressive, and in some cases, have single-handedly won the Twins games. Those moments have likely covered up a number of red flags in his body of work thus far in many fans' eyes, and it’s fair to wonder whether those red flags should be addressed on the MLB roster rather than St. Paul.
On the season, Lewis has slashed a respectable .281/.305/.404 (.709). His saving grace thus far on his total slash line was a stretch of what some would call batted ball luck, hitting safely in seven consecutive at-bats at one point. He’s walked just twice thus far, swinging at over half of the pitches he sees.
Lewis has swung at 40% of pitches he’s seen outside of the zone. Alex Kirilloff has swung at just 27% of such pitches for reference. In addition, Lewis has struck out over one-third of the time and has a 36.4% whiff rate against fastballs. He’s being overly aggressive and has struggled to even make contact against heaters.
A few weeks ago, it would have been easy to say “it is what it is” and allow him to continue trying to work through it. It was hard to expect him to be at the top of his game after missing so much time. Jose Miranda has heated up considerably recently, however.
There are a few factors that come into play here. For starters, Jose Miranda has previously shown the ability to hit in the majors. Clearly, something was broken, as his poor production followed him into Triple-A after he was demoted. While it was always possible Lewis could simply play so well that Miranda’s production was a non-factor, Lewis hasn’t held up his side of the bargain with what is currently a below-league-average slash line. With Miranda appearing to be trending back up, it may be time to give him another shot at contributing. Just a few months ago, he was relied upon to be a middle-of-the-order contributor.
More importantly, the long-term production of Royce Lewis has to be taken into account. This isn’t a Trevor Larnach or Matt Wallner situation where it can be argued that their struggles can’t be solved in Triple-A. Lewis currently has a flawed approach and is getting overpowered by major-league fastballs. It’s also an issue he had during his rehab assignment in St. Paul where he posted a 1.099 OPS. It’s exactly what you’d expect to see from a player who has missed so much time recently, but it’s also one that may be better solved against less dominant pitching.
Lewis was promoted out of necessity. Jose Miranda had fallen apart and the Twins lineup was in need of any spark it could get. Despite the impact Lewis has had on a handful of games, the goal should be to get him to that level more consistently, as he hasn’t been the consistent contributor the Twins had hoped for as a whole. Miranda’s difficult stretch to begin 2023 also doesn’t eliminate the possibility of him returning to form as a plus hitter in an MLB offense.
In a straight-up swap, the Twins can get Miranda, who was once expected to be a major contributor another opportunity while setting Lewis up for success in the long term rather than risking him falling too far into bad habits as he tries to keep his head above water in the majors. Should the Twins consider it?
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