Royce Lewis is heading into a defining winter with the Twins, and the question hanging over Minnesota is bigger than just one roster spot: does he still fit?
The organization has spent years investing in Lewis, starting with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 MLB Draft and continuing through injuries, uneven stretches and plenty of patience. Derek Shelton’s first one-on-one meeting after taking over as manager last October was with Lewis, a clear sign of how much weight the club still put on him. But after 2026, the conversation has shifted from promise to proof.
Lewis did what the Twins have long wanted in one respect: he stayed on the field. He spent only 10 days on the injured list and played 125 games, a new career high by a wide margin over his previous mark of 106.
The problem was the bat never fully came around. He finished at .227/.287/.380 with 15 home runs, 24 doubles and an 86 OPS+.
Twins general manager Jeremy Zoll didn’t sugarcoat that reality at the organization’s end-of-season press conference.
“His performance on the field, obviously, had ups and downs,” Zoll said in the organization’s end-of-season press conference. “For Royce that success just comes down to being more consistent over longer stretches. We’d love to find a way to figure that out and to have him become the impact player that he’s shown at various points along the way.”
That’s the heart of the decision. Minnesota has seen the upside.
Lewis’ 2023 season was the kind of burst that made him look like a true centerpiece: .309/.372/.548 with 15 home runs in just 58 games. Then came the postseason, where he launched four homers in six playoff games.
Those moments still matter, because they’re the clearest evidence of what he can be when everything clicks.
There are practical reasons to keep him, too. Lewis has played third base, shortstop, second base and first base, giving the Twins some flexibility if they want to keep moving him around the field.
Minnesota used him at second base at times this season, and in a small sample he posted some encouraging defensive numbers there. If the club believes the 2023 version of his bat is still reachable, it can give him another shot without making any long-term commitment.
The contract side matters as well. Lewis remains under team control through 2028 and is entering his third offseason of arbitration eligibility.
MLB Trade Rumors projects him at about $5.1 million next year. That’s not nothing, but it’s also not the kind of price that forces a permanent answer right now.
Still, the recent offensive track record is hard to brush aside. Since the 2024 All-Star break, Lewis has hit .226/.282/.376 with an 82 wRC+, a stretch that sits well below league average. For a player once viewed as a foundational piece, that’s a significant warning sign.
And that’s where the roster puzzle gets tricky. If Lewis stays, one possible path is to use him in more of a platoon role at second base while the Twins chase more offense at first base.
That matters because first base is one of the easier spots to upgrade with a free-agent signing or trade. In that setup, Minnesota could try to preserve Lewis’ defensive value while spending elsewhere on a more reliable run producer.
But if he can’t hit enough to handle second base, the whole idea starts to wobble. The Twins have already spent several seasons waiting for his offense to settle in. At some point, the question becomes whether they’re still developing Lewis or simply repeating the same exercise.
The first real checkpoint arrives in November. Lewis earned $2.85 million last winter in his first year of arbitration eligibility, and Minnesota has to decide whether to tender him a contract for 2027 by the league’s deadline, which usually falls on the Friday before Thanksgiving. A non-tender would send him straight to free agency.
A trade could also happen before then, though the Twins don’t need to force anything. They can keep gauging his market while sorting out other options at second base and first base. If they tender him and don’t move him, they’d be on the hook for roughly a $5 million salary in 2027.
If Minnesota does keep him, there’s still room to work out either a one-year arbitration deal or maybe something longer. The Twins have gone both ways with arbitration-eligible players before, though they usually prefer to settle before things get to a hearing.
The timing of a possible trade is another layer to watch. Minnesota could try to move Lewis before the tender deadline, when another team would be getting several years of control.
Or the Twins could hold him through the winter and make the call later once the rest of the roster takes shape. Either way, the real issue is how they value his future in Minnesota against what he might return on the market.
There’s no clean answer here. Lewis is still relatively young, still under control for years and still capable of producing at a high level when things go right. His improved health in 2026 also removes one of the biggest concerns that had followed him.
But the bat has to do more. The Twins need more offense, and Lewis has now spent enough time in below-average territory that the club has to decide whether another season is a fresh start or just another wait.
They can keep him, shift him, or move on. What they can’t do is keep hoping without a plan.
In Other News...
Twins Roster Shift Could Put Josh Bell In A Tough Spot
The Twins are starting to think long term with Luke Keaschall, and that has a ripple effect well beyond one lineup spot. If the young outfielder develops the way the organization hopes, he could settle in as a future leadoff hitter and a regular in the outfield, giving Minnesota a player to build around at the top of the order and in the field.
Josh Bell, meanwhile, could wind up squeezed by the numbers. With several outfielders and prospects competing for playing time, the roster is getting crowded fast, and Bells value comes mostly as a designated hitter. In a setup like that, there may not be enough room to bring him back, which makes his situation one of the quieter but more interesting questions hanging over the Twins offseason plans. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Face Tough 2027 Calls On Several Familiar Names
The Twins are already staring at a busy arbitration picture for 2027, and MLB Trade Rumors latest projections put a familiar group of names in the spotlight. The list spans 10 players, with the analysis pointing toward likely stays for pieces such as Anthony Banda, Dean Kremer, Taj Bradley and Kody Clemens while sorting out the rest of the group by projected salary and recent performance.
For Minnesota, the more interesting part may be the names that sit closer to the trade or non-tender line. Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober and Royce Lewis are among the players the projections flag as more complicated decisions, which gives the front office another reminder that roster building in the years ahead will not be simple even for a club trying to keep its core intact. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Face A Roster Defining First Base Decision This Offseason
The Twins are heading into an offseason where first base looks like one of the clearest spots for change, and the conversation starts with Royce Lewis. His underperformance has left Minnesota without the middle-of-the-order production it hoped to get from that spot, which is why the search has expanded beyond simple internal fixes. The market offers a few different paths, from established bats to younger players who could be available in a trade, but none of them comes with an easy answer.
Yandy Daz, Alec Burleson, Spencer Steer, Triston Casas and Ryan Mountcastle all surface as possible fits, each with a different mix of upside and availability. Minnesota is also said to be open to dealing from its pitching depth in order to land an impact bat, a sign that this could become more than a routine offseason tweak. The complication is that the free-agent class at first base is viewed as thin, which could push the Twins toward a trade if they want real change rather than another stopgap. [Read more 🡒]