Royce Lewis finds a moment to savor from a lost season for the Twins

By Canadian Press on September 22, 2025.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Royce Lewis bent low to reach for a seventh-inning slider, raising his bat with confidence and joy as soon as he connected.

Lewis hopped along the first-base line as he let out a celebratory yell at his Minnesota Twins teammates in the dugout, before pivoting to finish the jog around the diamond following the pinch-hit, three-run drive that traveled 402 feet into the left-field seats for his 13th homer of the season.

Lewis and the Twins have been frustratingly short on those shout-worthy moments in 2025. It’s only natural, then, that the 26-year-old third baseman was pumped up by that big hit that gave the Twins some late insurance in a 6-2 victory over Cleveland on Sunday that salvaged another unflattering series and afforded them the opportunity to relish the spoiler role against the surging division rival Guardians, who trail the Detroit Tigers by just one game.

More jarringly in his postgame reflection, though, was one of the reasons Lewis cited in savoring the experience of that clutch homer.

“You never know if it’s going to be your last at-bat here or what,” Lewis said. “You never know.”

As a player with only 252 career games on his resume who won’t be eligible for free agency until 2029, the first overall pick in the 2017 draft who still presents significant upside to the Twins despite his injury-altered start in the major leagues, Lewis would be about the last guy on the list of potential trade candidates for the offseason.

But such is the state of flux the Twins have found themselves in at 67-89, eliminated from contention for the playoffs for a second straight year after an aggressive sell-off leading up to the trade deadline seven weeks ago. Asked a follow-up question in his postgame interview session on Sunday, Lewis acknowledged that he indeed has braced himself for the possibility of being dealt.

“I’m just here and enjoying my time with my teammates. I grew up playing with all these guys,” Lewis said, pondering the scenario in real time. “It would almost be like I grew up with one family then all of a sudden, ‘Hey, I’m going to college.’”

Lewis slumped badly in August, but he has shown signs recently of finding his place at the plate. He’s batting .284 with four homers, 13 RBIs and nine steals in as many attempts in 19 games in September.

Lewis entered the 2024 season with a career .913 OPS with 17 homers and 57 RBIs in 70 games, but the knee and hamstring injuries sure haven’t helped him refine his swing mechanics over time. Lewis has also admitted a hesitancy to embrace a midstream adjustment to his approach, which in turn has made it a little harder for the coaching staff to make an impact on his progress.

After a spring training hamstring strain delayed his start to the season until May, Lewis aggravated the injury in June. That was a less severe strain, but he returned after a 15-game absence and now believes he rushed back to help the struggling team.

“My body wasn’t necessarily fully trusting. My mind, my body were off, so it sets you back and then you have 75 at-bats where it’s kind of building up spring training timing again,” Lewis said. “It’s just hard to manage, man. It’s extremely hard.”

Now he’s got six more games to carry some good vibes into 2026, whether with the Twins — or elsewhere.

“My body feels great. I feel really good,” he said, “and I’m looking forward to carrying that into next year.”

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

Dave Campbell, The Associated Press