Royce

Lewis

Lewis had been out since February 26th with oblique soreness, but he wasted no time in pushing the tempo on the field. Lewis has said that his goal this season is to have 700 plate appearances, but I’m sure fantasy managers and Twins fans would be OK with 450, which would be a career high. Lewis has the power and speed to be a major fantasy asset when he’s on the field, and he took steps this offseason to ensure his health, but he remains a major risk in fantasy drafts.

Lewis was scratched with tightness in his side Thursday, but the MRI on his oblique revealed all was good. The 26-year-old will be an everyday option as long as he can stay on the field in 2026.

Given Lewis’ extensive injury history, there was not a lot of optimism when he was scratched from Thursday’s lineup with side tightness. For now, it appears that the Twins have avoided a major injury.

Initially the Twins said that the move was made out of an abundance of caution, but since they sent him for imaging perhaps it’s a bit more serious than that. Given Lewis’ extensive injury history, there’s absolutely reason to be worried here. The Twins are expected to provide an update on his status on Friday after getting the results from that exam.

Lewis experienced the tightness after running the bases pre-game. This is supposedly “out of an abundance of caution,” which we’re sure everyone will take to mean everything is going just fine given Lewis’ injury history. We’ll provide further updates as we have them, but Lewis will remain a risky fantasy pick because of his inability to stay healthy.

Lewis connected on a 96-mph heater from Red Sox top pitching prospect Peyton Tolle, launching a titanic blast to left field with two outs in the opening frame. He also tacked on a run-scoring single and collected a stolen base later in the contest. The oft-injured 26-year-old third baseman has always possessed elite over-the-fence pop but physical issues have limited him to just 106 and 82 games, respectively, in each of the past two seasons.

Lewis gets a $1.225 million raise after being eligible for arbitration as a Super Two player last season. He’ll be looking to bounce back after hitting just .237/.283/.388 in 106 games last season, and one imagines he’ll be considerably better while healthy. He’ll be an end-game option with upside in mixed leagues.

Lewis replaced Trevor Larnach with a lefty on the mound in the seventh. The Guardians countered with Hunter Gaddis, but that was fine with Lewis, who hit a ball 402 feet off the righty. It was Lewis’s 13th homer in 380 plate appearances. He’s batting .284 with four homers this month, though that comes with an 18/1 K/BB in 75 plate appearances.

Lewis has opened September 9-for-29 with three homers and, very surprisingly, four steals in four tries. Coming into the month, he had three steals in 161 games since the beginning of 2024. Then again, Lewis has made it clear that he’s very much interesting in compiling numbers for his also-ran team as he approaches arbitration for the second time. Some might frown on that kind of thing, but given that ownership gave up on the team, who can fault the players for looking out for themselves?

Finally showing some signs of life, this was Lewis’ second three-hit game in the last week and a half and he has five homers and 13 RBI over his last 15 games. Those stolen bases may be the most encouraging sign though. He has three in his last six contests and that’s a great sign that he’s feeling good physically. Here’s to hoping for one of those classic red-hot streaks to close out the season.