Twins

RandBall: The Twins have been waiting almost a year for Royce Lewis to end his slump

The Twins third baseman said last June that he is immune to slumps. He’s been in one basically ever since then. Read about that and more in Michael Rand’s 10 things to know today.

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By Michael Rand

The Minnesota Star Tribune
May 30, 2025 at 4:40PM
Twins third baseman Royce Lewis has been mired in a slump for nearly a calendar year. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

On June 19, 2024, Twins third baseman Royce Lewis confidently relayed to reporters what he had told then-Twins hitting coach David Popkins earlier that day:

“Hey, I don’t do that slump thing. That’s not a real thing for me.”

Lewis had just gone 3-for-4 in a game against Tampa Bay one game after what was back then an uncharacteristic 0-for-5 night.

Fact-checking in real-time from MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park confirmed that Lewis, to that point in his young career, had been relatively slump-free.

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At that moment, Lewis had a career batting average of .319 and 25 home runs in just 307 at-bats and was already gaining a reputation for huge clutch performances.

It seemed like the only impediment to superstardom was his health.

Since saying “I don’t do that slump thing”, which almost amazingly also encompasses 307 at-bats, Lewis is hitting .189 with nine home runs.

That’s more of a career flipped upside down than just a bad stretch, but if we want to call it a slump, the Twins have been waiting for Lewis to break out of it for almost a full calendar year now.

His struggles late last season coincided with the Twins’ 12-27 free-fall to the finish line; Minnesota has been fortunate to survive both his early-season injury absence and prolonged slide this season to emerge with a 30-25 record heading into Friday night’s game at Seattle.

Lewis, who in that same interview last June said he avoids slumps by always remembering that “it’s a new day,” seems as low in spirits as he is in batting average.

“I’m at a point where the hope is gone,” Lewis said Wednesday. He is hitless in his last 24 at-bats and has just a .138 average this year.

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Advanced stats say he’s hitting the ball even harder this year than he has throughout his career, but Lewis has an absurd .148 batting average on balls in play (league average is usually around .300, or double what Lewis has).

Whether he angered the baseball gods with his defiance of slumps, an evil twin brother is to blame, or Lewis has simply been a mix of unlucky and less effective, he and the Twins need to see some hard hits fall in soon.

Here are nine more things to know today:

  • Almost every Timberwolves regular (minus Anthony Edwards) met with local media Thursday for a post-mortem on another successful season that ended with a five-game Western Conference finals loss. If I’m squinting at the future, I see a 2025-26 season in which the Wolves rely a lot more on youth, which made Mike Conley Jr.’s comments about ways the Wolves need to continue to grow particularly interesting. “For individuals, it has to become even more important to them. You know, maybe that means studying the game more. ... You gotta try to bring them up to a certain standard or a certain level where the non-negotiables are things you just do by habit and not, you know, something that we have to ask or show on film a thousand times.”
    • Why a Wolves youth movement? Three of their key rotation players could be free agents. My guess is that one but not both of Julius Randle and Naz Reid will be here next year, while Nickeil-Alexander Walker is gone.
      • The Vikings on Friday morning announced a long-awaited contract extension for GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. It was termed a “multi-year” deal in the news release, but the question on everyone’s mind is this: How many years is it, and does it align with the extension head coach Kevin O’Connell signed four months ago that goes through 2029?
        • The Dallas Stars’ season is over, and goalie Jake Oettinger — the former Lakeville North standout — has to deal not only with the disappointment of losing in the conference finals again to Edmonton but also the tire tracks from the bus Stars coach Peter DeBoer threw him under after the game. Oettinger was pulled after allowing two goals on two shots, the first on a power play and the second on a breakaway. Said DeBoer: “We had talked endlessly in this series about trying to play with the lead, and obviously, we’re in a 2-0 hole right away. I didn’t take that lightly, and I didn’t blame it all on Jake. But the reality is, if you go back to last year’s playoffs, he’s lost six of seven games to Edmonton. ... It was partly to spark our team and wake them up. And it was partly knowing that status quo had not been working. That’s a pretty big sample size.” Dallas had scored two goals in its previous three games against the Oilers, but it is certainly easier to blame one player than an entire team.
          • The Knicks, meanwhile, did not follow the lead of the Wolves or Stars. Trailing 3-1 in their series to Indiana, the Knicks played perhaps their most complete game of the playoffs, defeating the Pacers 111-94. Indiana gets to host Game 6 on Saturday, but if they lose that one, look out. A ratings-hungry NBA and a loud Madison Square Garden would be hard to overcome in a Game 7 on Monday in New York. Maybe NBA Commissioner Adam Silver would even wear a New York skyline tie?
            • The Pacers’ Tyrese Halliburton, who was brilliant with a triple-double in Indiana’s Game 4 victory, had just eight points on seven shots. See? Tough games can happen to other stars in the playoffs, not just Ant.
              • The Lynx will try to extend their unbeaten start to 6-0 tonight, but it won’t be easy. They’re at Phoenix, which is 4-1.
                about the writer

                about the writer

                Michael Rand

                Columnist / Reporter

                Michael Rand is the Minnesota Star Tribune's Digital Sports Senior Writer and host/creator of the Daily Delivery podcast. In 25 years covering Minnesota sports at the Minnesota Star Tribune, he has seen just about everything (except, of course, a Vikings Super Bowl).

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