There’s a real chance Royce Lewis has already played his last game in a Twins uniform.
That’s the uncomfortable truth hanging over Minnesota’s 2027 roster picture. Lewis is still only projected to make $5.1 million in his second year of arbitration, according to MLB Trade Rumors, but the combination of his production and the way the roster is built makes him a tough fit to keep around. The Twins may have more expensive names to sort through first, but Lewis is no lock to survive the offseason.
The issue starts with the bat. Since June 22, 2024, Lewis has been a different hitter than the one who once looked like a star in the making.
Before that date, he carried a .996 career OPS over 346 plate appearances. Since then, he’s posted a .653 OPS across 1,171 plate appearances.
He’s been below average for more than three times as long as he was exceptional.
There have been flashes, sure. He put together a 32-game stretch in 2025, interrupted by injury, when he ran an OPS above .900 from May 30 through July 28.
He also had a run from mid-May to early September in 2026 when he stayed above .750 for 81 games. But those stretches haven’t been enough to erase the bigger pattern: the highs aren’t high enough, and the lows are too damaging for the Twins to treat him like a dependable impact hitter.
That leaves Minnesota with a tricky decision, because Lewis did play a career-high 125 major league games this season, plus 15 more in the minors. He lost the third base job to Brooks Lee, but after being called back up from Triple-A in June, he was in the lineup almost every day, appearing in 94 of the team’s final 97 games. Most of that came at first base, with 16 appearances at second and nine at third.
If the Twins simply rolled the 2026 infield forward into 2027, Lewis would be the favorite to start at first base on Opening Day, with Kody Clemens at second. Maybe the two would switch spots. Either way, that would not look like a serious offseason for Minnesota.
Lewis handled first base reasonably well for someone new to the position, but he wasn’t a Gold Glover there, and he wasn’t better than average at second either. More importantly, he didn’t hit like even an average first baseman. Over those final 94 games after returning from Triple-A, he hit .245/.295/.409.
That matters because the easiest way for the Twins to improve the lineup is pretty obvious: add a real bat at first or second base. Even a move that feels modest on the surface, like Gleyber Torres, would be a clear upgrade over Lewis by OPS alone.
Torres posted a .727 OPS last year, while Lewis finished at .667. It’s hard to make a strong case for Lewis as an everyday option at either spot.
The bench path isn’t much cleaner.
Minnesota has already spent recent seasons building benches that didn’t offer much real value. The days of Willi Castro, Kyle Farmer, Donovan Solano, and Michael A.
Taylor are gone. Since 2024, the Twins’ reserve group has been built out of spare parts - redundant, superfluous, or simply incapable players who were there because they were available.
Warm bodies, basically.
Lewis would fit that mold too, and not in a flattering way. Good bench players usually have a defined job.
They pinch-run. They cover a premium defensive position.
They platoon. They bring something specific.
Lewis doesn’t really check any of those boxes.
He hasn’t played shortstop since one inning there in 2023, so using him on the bench would either force the Twins to carry another infielder or lean on Lee as the main backup shortstop, which is not an easy sell given Lee’s earlier struggles there before moving to third. Lewis is fine at first, second, and third, but not good enough at any of them to be a true defensive specialist. He hasn’t played the outfield at all since tearing his ACL in 2022 while in center field.
There is one possible angle: platoon work. Lewis bats right-handed, and Kody Clemens has had real trouble against lefties, with a career .627 OPS that sits 20% below league average.
But Lewis hasn’t exactly crushed left-handed pitching himself. He owns a .747 career OPS against southpaws, which is only 8% above league average.
That lines up with Austin Martin’s .745 OPS against lefties. Over the last two seasons, Lewis has actually been below average against lefties overall.
That’s not the kind of split that makes him a true platoon weapon.
The running game helps a little. Lewis has been a good baserunner over the past year or so, and he’s gone 28-for-31 as a stolen-base threat over the last two seasons. But he doesn’t have the kind of top-end speed that makes a player a dedicated pinch-running threat.
So what is he, exactly? A little bit of everything, but not enough of any one thing.
He can move around the diamond, but not at a level that makes him indispensable. He can run, but not enough to change games.
He can hit, but not consistently enough to anchor a lineup spot.
There is a version of this role that works - more like a fourth outfielder than a fifth infielder, the kind of player who can give regulars a day off and keep the roster moving. If Lewis could also handle the corner outfield spots, maybe there’d be something there. Think 2019 Marwin Gonzalez, if Lewis was willing and able to play the corners too.
But Gonzalez was a better hitter and a better defender than Lewis has been over the last three seasons. And the more you look at Lewis for 2027, the more it feels like the Twins would be searching for a way to justify him rather than leaning on a player who clearly fits.
If Minnesota can’t use him in the outfield, then carrying him would mean building the bench around him with a shortstop, a catcher, and likely another outfielder, probably Alan Roden or Emmanuel Rodríguez. In that setup, Lewis would be the main bench bat against platoon situations and would probably play three or four times a week, mostly to spell players at the three non-shortstop spots where the production is questionable.
That’s a lot of roster space for a player who doesn’t quite solve a problem.
The cleaner answer may be that the Twins can spend Lewis’s estimated $5.1 million more efficiently somewhere else.
In Other News...
Twins Suddenly Face A Big Ryan Jeffers Offseason Decision
Ryan Jeffers is headed into a pivotal offseason after the Twins extended him a one-year qualifying offer worth $23.15 million, a move that signaled just how much Minnesota values the catcher. The club has made clear it would like to keep him around on a longer deal, and the situation now shifts from a simple roster decision to a bigger question about how hard both sides want to push toward a multi-year agreement.
Jeffers is expected to explore the market rather than take the short-term route, leaving the Twins to weigh their next step while hoping their interest in a long-term reunion still has a path forward. If he winds up leaving, Minnesota will not be empty-handed, since the team would receive a compensatory draft pick, but the larger issue remains whether one of its most important pieces is still in place when the offseason dust settles. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Could Target A Bullpen Arm With One Big Roster Catch
The Twins are always looking for bullpen help, and a recent roster move in Boston could put a familiar name on their radar. Zack Kelly is now available after the Red Sox moved on from the right-handed reliever, a pitcher whose profile fits the kind of low-cost depth teams often chase this time of year.
Kellys appeal is tied to more than just availability. He has shown enough in the majors to keep drawing interest, and his pitch mix gives him a chance to fit into a relief group that can never have too much competition. The catch is the health side of the equation, since any team considering him will have to weigh how soon he can get back into a throwing program and what kind of timeline comes with that uncertainty. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Could Shake Up Their Lineup With One First Base Move
The Twins have spent the early part of the offseason sorting out how they want their lineup to look around first base, and the picture is still unsettled after they declined Josh Bells option. For now, Royce Lewis is the leading internal answer there, but Minnesota is also keeping an eye on the market as it looks for ways to add more certainty to a position that can reshape the middle of the order.
One name that has surfaced is Isaac Paredes, with the Astros needing to clarify how their infield fits together and Minnesota ready to explore a trade if he becomes available. Houstons roster logjam is part of what makes this situation worth watching, and the Twins interest adds another layer to an offseason that also includes Ryan Jeffers decision on a qualifying offer. [Read more 🡒]