The Minnesota Twins not only made it to the postseason in 2023, but they won a series there and made things very complicated for the Houston Astros in the Division Series.
Overall, their 2023 was very, very solid, and while they have several people to thank for that (Pablo Lopez and Sonny Gray, for example), a lot of their success was tied with Royce Lewis’ emergence as a surging star.
Lewis recovered from serious knee surgery and played just enough to make his impact felt.
Current analyst and former executive Jim Duquette spoke highly of him, via MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM.
“We know he has the potential.”@JimDuquetteGM on Royce Lewis’s breakout carrying over to 2024: @Twins | #WeBelieveinTC pic.twitter.com/ebEwMJ7soR
— MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (@MLBNetworkRadio) January 17, 2024
“For me, what gets me most excited about them (the Twins) taking even another step forward if they can keep this group together, is hoping Lewis stays healthy for the entire season. He is a guy who you thought highly of, but you didn’t know what you were going to get out of him. Now that we have seen him, he is a star in the making,” Duquette explained.
Lewis hit .309/.372/.548 with 15 home runs and a .921 OPS in 58 games and 239 plate appearances last year.
He drove in a whopping 52 runs in the 58 games, almost one per game.
Simply put, when Lewis plays, the Twins are much, much more dangerous.
He translated that success to the playoffs, too: he hit four home runs in six October games, two in the Wild Card Series and two in the Division Series, and had a 1.119 OPS.
If Lewis manages to stay healthy to play close to 140 games, he could have some sneaky MVP potential.
That’s a big if, though.
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