Like any of the six seasons in Royce Lewis’s time with the Minnesota Twins, the 2026 campaign has been anything but conventional. A season where Lewis started at third base led to struggles at the plate and a demotion to the minors, but Lewis has since been a solid addition to the lineup, hitting .263/.324/.462 with 10 homers, 32 RBI and nine stolen bases in 65 games since his return.
But his health aside, his biggest weakness may be his status as a streaky player. While he declared he didn’t “do slumps” a few weeks ago, they’ve been dotted throughout his career in between white-hot stretches where he can carry Minnesota’s offense.
With 1,399 plate appearances in his career entering Monday’s season opener against the Athletics, it’s pretty clear that this is who Lewis is as a hitter. But as the Twins sit two games behind the Cleveland Guardians for the final Wild Card spot in the American League, they could be one hot streak away from a playoff appearance.
Royce Lewis knows how to catch fire when the Twins need him the most
Lewis’s penchant for getting hot has shown up a few times during his career. After fully recovering from a second torn ACL in a span of 18 months, Lewis came up and looked like a future superstar, hitting .309/.372/.548 with 15 homers, 52 RBI and six stolen bases in 58 games. The stretch helped the Twins win the American League Central and Lewis helped them make noise when they got there, hitting four homers in 22 at-bats to lead them to their first playoff victory and first series victory in roughly two decades.
The success didn’t carry over largely to a quad strain suffered on Opening Day of the 2024 season but Lewis got hot when he returned in June. In 22 games, Lewis hit .271/.337/.635 but most impressive were his nine homers, which helped the Twins get out of the month with a record of 12-10.
The record isn’t extremely impressive but it gets the point across that Lewis can be a difference maker when he’s on his game. While last year was an injury-riddled mess, hitting .237/.283/.388 with 13 homers, 52 RBI and 12 stolen bases in 106 games, Lewis looked like himself after he was sent to St. Paul and recalled on June 6.
In his first 31 games, Lewis hit .270/.328/.508 with seven homers, 16 RBI and three stolen bases. But after a cold streak to end July, he’s been more consistent, hitting .295/.329/.462 with two homers, 11 RBI and two stolen bases.
The Twins fading offense could be waiting for Royce Lewis to get hot
Lewis’s most recent stretch hasn’t produced the power some of his other hot streaks have had. But it’s the type of output that could power the Twins to the playoffs. Lewis still strikes out more than the Twins would like with 20 punchouts in his last 20 games and his chase rate (32.3 percent) and whiff rate (33.0 percent) still need improvement with his metrics listed at Baseball Savant. But none of that matters if he gets hot at the right time.
Looking at the Twins lineup, the time may be now. The Twins were the best offense in the American League in the first half of the season, averaging 4.85 runs per game. But they’ve averaged just 3.9 runs per game since the break. The implosion of the team’s starting staff has also put more pressure on the lineup and with the Twins finding any reason they can to not call up top prospect Walker Jenkins, it’s going to be on the incumbents to complete the push to the postseason.
Judging by Lewis’s overall performance this year, it may not happen. But if there’s one player who can catch lightning in a bottle and get the Twins there, Lewis may be one of their best hopes.
Add us as a preferred source on Google