Twins’ Royce Lewis searches for his way out of another hitting slump

WEST SACRAMENTO, CALIF. – Royce Lewis wore the acupuncture patch that Byron Buxton uses to avoid stiff necks. He tried the nose-opening strips that Carlos Correa wears to improve his breathing during games. He needed neither of them for medical reasons.

It’s just what you do when you’re batting .127.

“I wasn’t a superstitious guy, but I’m trying to get something going positively,” Lewis explained. “I wanted Buck’s superpowers, and I got the nose piece for Carlos’ superpowers. They didn’t work. I’ve just got to [find] Royce’s superpowers.”

They haven’t been much in evidence lately. On Sunday, Lewis became the first Twins position player ever to slog through more than one 0-for-30 slump in his career. He hasn’t had a hit in two weeks, and against the Mariners, manager Rocco Baldelli sent pinch-hitter Brooks Lee to bat for Lewis, something that would never have happened before this season.

“I just want to get back to being comfortable Royce. We were searching a little too much, and I just felt off,” Lewis said of his ongoing search for hard-hit balls and, yes, actual hits. “I’ll say it: I slump. A lot of people slump. Everyone slumps. Hopefully I play long enough to slump 100 more times.”

But first, he’s got to get through this one.

“If anything right now, I’m over-swinging. I’m swinging way too hard, and then it feels like your head starts bouncing up and down and you start missing pitches you normally want to hit,” Lewis said. “I’m trying to slow it down a little bit.”

He takes heart in the experience of others, reassuring examples of good players going through difficult times. When Aaron Judge came to Target Field last May, he remembers, the New York Yankee outfielder was batting .235 and hearing plenty of criticism. Judge went 7-for-11 in the series with five doubles and a homer.

“We were the team that got him right, and he went on to win the MVP,” said Lewis, who has heard plenty of criticism of his own current slump. “It gives me peace of mind that this is just baseball. Hitters go through this. It’s very normal, and it’s something I’m going to overcome again.”

That positivity, well, that’s been Lewis’ personality since he arrived four seasons ago.

“Royce doesn’t really change. We’ve all noticed because we’ve all been though things like that. He’s working hard on it, trying different things, trying new things,” pitcher Pablo López said. “It is a challenge that baseball brings upon us just to test our resiliency, test our ability to adapt and change without changing our identity, without changing our core. He’s still the same guy.”

And believe it or not, he’s managed to stay upbeat even as the numbers keep getting worse.

“How can you not? We’re winning,” Lewis said. “I don’t know how you don’t have fun. This is the game I grew up playing and loving. We’re having fun playing cards on the plane. Just the little things, hanging out with the boys. I love it. Food’s always amazing. Hotels are always great.”

Lewis was out of the lineup for Monday night’s victory against the Athletics but arrived at the ballpark early in order to take extra batting practice.

“When you’re struggling, you want to be coachable and want to listen and do things and that’s the fine line. How far is too far? You want to listen but also want to be able to stay within yourself,” Lewis said. “At the end of the day, I’m the one in the box, I’m the one that’s going to have to do it no matter who tells me what to do. Obviously, I know the results will come.”

Any minute now, López said.

“Every time he comes to the plate, I think ‘He’s due. He’s due,’ “ López said. “And he is.”

Monday was Lou Gehrig Day around baseball, with all players wearing a “4” patch on their jerseys to honor the Yankees great and promote the fight against ALS.

That’s all great. But the day is a little more personal to Baldelli. “It means a tremendous amount to me.”

That affection stems back nearly two decades ago, to when he was afflicted during his career with a cell disorder that causes severe muscle fatigue, the Devil Rays sent him to a specialty clinic to be treated.

“The elevator door opened up and it said I’m at the Lou Gehrig Center. And I was scared to death,” Baldelli said. “I also wasn’t very well at the time physically. My body was changing and stuff.”

He learned about Gehrig, and said it helped him deal with his own medical issues.

“When you see someone who appreciated all the very positive things that he had going on in his life, all of his experiences with the game and the fans and the connection he had with baseball as a whole, despite going through everything he was going through, that’s inspiring. It’s inspiring,” Baldelli said.

“To go through that with grace, to say that’s ‘hard to do’ is not giving it justice. To me personally, there’s some importance here.”

(Position players)

0-40 — Butch Wynegar, 1978

0-37 — Jerry Zimmerman, 1967

0-36 — Royce Lewis, 2024-25

0-36 — Charlie Manuel, 1969

0-34 — Tom Nieto, 1987-88

0-33 — Jermaine Palacios, 2022

0-33 — Bobby Mitchell, 1982

0-33 — Gene Larkin, 1988

0-32 — Greg Gagne, 1991

0-31 — Oswaldo Arcia, 2014

0-30 — Royce Lewis, 2025 (current)

0-30 — Randy Bush, 1984

0-30 — Edouard Julien, 2024-25

0-29 — Max Kepler, 2022