3 Twins who deserve the most blame for letting the team down

The Minnesota Twins are firmly in the playoff race, but holding on to the final wild card spot, trying to hold off teams like the Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners in the last few weeks of the regular season. Despite being in a decent place to secure a playoff spot, it has been disappointing to see the Twins not challenge for the American League Central crown.

Barring a complete collapse, the Twins will play October baseball once again this year, but there have been some disappointing performances that have them closer to the playoff bubble

When looking at how the Twins have gotten to this point, they have not had any disastrous months of play this season, but they have not lit the world on fire in any month, either. Their best months were in May and June when they posted 16-12 and 15-2 records respectively, per Statmuse. For the most part, they have gone slightly above .500 each month, and that is a recipe for being in the conversation at the end of the year.

September is much of the same to this point for Minnesota, as it holds a 5-6 record this month ahead of a three-game series at home against the Cincinnati Reds.

However, there was a point a few weeks ago in which the Twins were in striking distance for the division title. The Cleveland Guardians had been chased down by the Kansas City Royals, and the Twins were not far behind. It looked like a three-way battle, but Minnesota has fallen back a bit, and now the priority becomes just securing a wild card spot.

There are a few Twins players who come to mind when examining why the team has fallen out of the division race as of late, and let's get to them. For clarity's sake, players who have missed time, like Carlos Correa and Max Kepler, have been kept off of this list, even though their absences have impacted the team's performance.

3 Twins who deserve the most blame for letting the team down

Royce Lewis, OF

There were big expectations coming into the 2024 season for Royce Lewis, and rightfully so. He played at an incredible level in just 58 games in 2023. He hasn't necessarily had a bad year on the whole, but he has certainly tailed off as the season has gone along.

When looking at wRC+, an all-encompassing offensive stat, Lewis has a solid mark of 125 on the season, according to FanGraphs (100 is league-average). The concerns come into focus when looking at how he has performed each month. After posing wRC+ marks of 166 and 130 in June and July, Lewis has disappointed, having a 95 wRC+ in August and 59 wRC+ so far in September. That simply is not going to cut it for a middle-of-the-order bat.

There also is a direct correlation between Lewis' decline in offensive production and his bat speed declining as the season has gone on (credit to Mike Petriello on X for pointing this out). Lewis' average bat speed in his hot months of June and July were at 74.3 mph and 73.9 mph respectively, according to Baseball Savant. In August his average bat speed fell to 72.7 mph, and it is at 72.5 mph so far in September.

This is a clear indication that Lewis might be wearing down late in the year. The injuries this year don't help, and hopefully, Lewis will be ready to play full seasons in the future. But for now, this is a concerning trend for this season.