Royce Lewis is Finding His Stroke

Hot Hitting

Entering play on Tuesday night, Lewis is hitting .316/.361/.386 with two extra-base hits. In his 14 games, he has an eight to four strikeout to walk ratio while adding in five stolen bases. Lewis was named the Twins Minor League Player of the Week for his performance at the plate last week. During those four games, he went 7-for-23 with four runs and four RBI. This was following on the heels of a four-hit game the week before.

Lewis has hit safely in 10 of his 14 games this season including multiple hits in five contests. On April 21, he went 4-for-4 with two runs and a stolen base. Less than a week later on April 27, he finished with three hits while adding a pair of runs, a stolen base and a RBI. He has only failed to reach base in three games this season.

Meanwhile, he is doing this while being almost 2.5 years younger than the competition in the Midwest League. He won’t turn 19 until June 5th and he could be in Fort Myers before he blows out the candles on his birthday cake.

Extra Rest Days

Minnesota has been cautious with Lewis to start the season by allowing him multiple rest days. He has yet to play three days in a row. Weather has obviously impacted some of the team’s early schedule. However, the team has specifically not had him in the lineup on multiple occasions.

The 2018 campaign will mark be his first opportunity to play a full professional season. Last year after being drafted, Lewis played in 54 games to end the season. He had also played in his high school season last spring which would bump up his total slightly. Lewis will likely pass 100 games played this season and it makes more sense for him to be getting the bulk of his action when the weather is nicer.

Promotion Prediction

Baseball fans have seen top prospects burst onto the scene over the last week. Atlanta’s budding star is only 20 years old but he has been playing professionally since age 17. Lewis could follow in Acuna’s footsteps but it seems more likely for Minnesota to pump the brakes a little. Acuna only played one minor league season with more than 100 games and that was last year. During the 2017 season, he played at all three of the highest levels in the Braves system.

Lewis is starting 2018 at Low-A so his first step will be a promotion to Fort Myers. He will need to continue to hit well but as I said before, I believe he can be in Florida before his birthday in early June. If he continues on the fast track, Lewis could be in Minnesota as early as next summer. A more likely timeline would make him a September call-up in 2019 and a starter in 2020.

What are your early impressions of Lewis? Can he make it to Target Field by next season? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion.

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