Nobody was thrilled with how Royce Lewis’s 2024 season turned out for the Minnesota Twins. A budding star and former No. 1 overall pick, Lewis raised expectations when he homered on Opening Day and hit nine home runs last June. But a second-half slump caused Lewis to stumble and he may have paid for it on Thursday.
Lewis agreed to a one-year, $1.625 million contract with the Twins on Thursday morning. While the deal helps him avoid arbitration, it also comes well short of the $2.3 million he was projected to earn by MLB Trade Rumors and puts plenty of pressure on the 25-year-old heading into the 2025 season.
Royce Lewis’s career has been a mixed bag for the Minnesota Twins
Lewis’s career has been filled with ups and downs entering this season. He hit .309/.372/.548 with 15 home runs and 52 RBI for the Twins in 2023 and slugged four homers during Minnesota’s postseason run. But he also suffered numerous injuries including tearing his ACL twice in a span of 18 months from February 2021 to June 2022.
The injuries continued to be a theme for Lewis as he suffered a severe quad strain in his second at-bat on Opening Day. While he returned for a month, he suffered a right adductor strain that put him on the shelf for most of July and didn’t look like the same player hitting .207/.270/.350 with six homers and 29 RBI in his final 58 games.
There was also turmoil along the way. Lewis balked at the idea of moving to second base as injuries forced the Twins to shuffle their lineup in September and Carlos Correa called out several young players for their preparation in the final weeks of the season. While Lewis was not named directly, it seemed like he received the message when he delivered a scathing response to reporters.
“It kind of falls on, obviously, the players,” Lewis said via the Minnesota Star Tribune’s Bobby Nightengale. “But I didn’t realize it was just on us. Now I know that we’re going to carry a lot of the load, especially the young guys – the cheap guys is the best way to put it.”
Big 2025 season for Royce Lewis has positives and negatives for the Minnesota Twins
Perhaps the deflection of blame caused the Twins to low-ball Lewis in negotiations and his camp decided to take the offer to avoid what could have been a nasty arbitration meeting. But regardless of how the two sides agreed, it puts a lot of pressure on Lewis heading into next year.
A motivated Lewis has plenty of positives in the short term. Lewis has changed the way he prepares for the season, installing an altered hitting program, an emphasis on movement in his physical workouts and even taking grounders at second base. Lewis also has taken the offseason to learn mentally and showed maturity when talking to Dan Hayes of The Athletic.
“It was a mixture of everything, honestly,” Lewis said of last September’s comments. “I’m a very emotional person. I ride off of how everyone’s feeling kind of in the clubhouse – and when you’re losing, the clubhouse is not very happy and exciting. The stress level was up. We’re trying to make the playoffs. The team as a whole kind of stopped hitting. … It was a big year to learn.”
It’s easy to take that information and project a big year for Lewis. But it also could be a negative considering Lewis’s long-term future.
If Lewis outperforms his expectations, his price tag will go up and could lead to a similar dispute next spring. If the bad feelings linger, negotiating a long-term contract could become difficult and it could lead to Lewis’s eventual exit – especially if the Twins don’t wind up with a free-spending owner in the event the Pohlad family sells the team.
It sets the stage for a big year that could determine Lewis’s future and have a significant say in how long he stays in a Twins uniform.