What would a proper bounce back season look like for Twins' Royce Lewis in 2026?

Twins fans know that Royce Lewis is capable of being an All-Star level player. The former first overall draft pick has been kicked by several injuries throughout his career, and we have never quite seen a full Royce Lewis season in the bigs.

We got a glimpse of it in 2025 with Lewis logging a career-high 106 games, but he was still derailed by injuries and not playing every day. This leaves Lewis in bounce back territory, and MLB.com has him picked as a solid candidate to improve in 2026. Let's see what a successful season would look like for the 26-year-old.

1. Better health

In four MLB seasons, Lewis has reached 100 or more games played once in a single season. There just needs to be a point for Lewis when he breaks through this injury bug that has pretty much derailed his career. Here's a look at injuries and procedures that placed him on the IL throughout his career.

• Right knee bone bruise (twice)

• Right knee surgery

• Left hamstring strain (three times)

• Right adductor strain

• Right quad strain

If he can stay on the field, then Twins fans can expect him to be able to find his stride and take off as one of the top hitters in the American League.

2. More contact and consistency

Royce Lewis is capable of going on hot streaks, but he has also fallen into some pretty brutal slumps. Here's a look at his batting average from each month in 2025.

• May: .130

• June: .367

• July: .293

• August: .204

• September: .258

For a power hitter, Lewis unfortunately struggled against the fastball in 2025. He batted .206 with 44 strikeouts against fastballs last season. He also had a 35.1 whiff rate against off speed pitches. In 2026, fans would like to see small improvements against both types of pitches, which would have give him an overall decent jump with his slash line, especially on a month-by-month basis.

3. More steals

Lewis has sustained quite a few lower body injuries in his career. However, he stole a dozen bases in 2025 to prove that he can still be a difference-maker on the base paths. If he can continue unlocking that part of his game, it would make the Twins' lineup more dangerous, and Lewis closer to appearing in an All-Star Game.

4. Ideal stat line?

It's difficult to measure what success means to a big league player. Fans would all have different ideas of what a strong Royce Lewis would look like, but here is a fair prediction for him for 2026 (if he can stay healthy).

• 135 games, 115 hits, 27 home runs, 24 doubles, 74 RBIs, 15 stolen bases

• .262/.325/.440/.765

Whether this is a stretch, an unfair underestimation, or somewhere in between, if Lewis can hit some of these marks, this would be a strong bounce back season for him.