It might be tough to hear, but it’s in the Minnesota Twins best interest to start exploring trades for Royce Lewis from here on out until next summer’s trade deadline.

Lewis, 27, was the Twins’ first-round draft selection in 2017, while also being the number one overall pick out of JSerra Catholic High School. He’s always carried a ton of potential, but mass amounts of injuries have hurt his career to this point.

He’s become an easy fan favorite in Minnesota, but sadly his time with the team may be running out.

Dating back to the 2022 season, Lewis has only surpassed 100-games played in a single season twice, coming in 2025 and 2026, while only averaging 77 games per season on average thus far in his five-year career.

Even when Lewis is healthy and in the lineup, his numbers haven’t been great to this point. Over his career, he’s posted a .246/.302/.429 slash line, along with 69 doubles, 61 home runs, and 213 runs batted in.

Injuries have always put Lewis in a tough spot for the majority of his career, but now a new issue has come about.

Does Lewis even fit into the Twins’ future plans moving forward?

Multiple Factors Could Force Lewis Out of Minnesota

Yes, injuries are one point to be made for the Twins front office to trade Lewis, but now with the amount of young players making their way to the majors, the future of Twins baseball is being assembled with Lewis may being left out.

Heading into 2027, the infield duo of Brooks Lee and Kaelen Culpepper will almost certainly be in the lineup every single day.

Furthermore, top prospect Marek Houston is projected to be major league ready at some point next season, taking away another roster spot for Lewis.

The Twins also have Kody Clemens on their hands, an American League Silver Slugger finalists at second base, who might be the biggest competition to Lewis.

Ever since the Twins acquired Clemens from the Philadelphia Phillies in April of 2025, he’s taken his career to new heights and has put up much better numbers than Lewis.

Across 257 games, spanning two seasons in Minnesota, Clemens has hit for a .230 batting average and .745 OPS, along with tallying 34 doubles, 11 triples, 46 home runs, and 133 runs batted in.

What stands out most with Clemens is that he’s only made one trip to the injured list since making his major league debut in 2022. That lone stint came back in June of 2024.

Furthermore, Clemens is coming off the best season of his career, notching 22 doubles, seven triples, 27 home runs, and 81 RBI over the course of 145 games and 583 plate appearances. He put up a career-best .239 batting average, .758 OPS, and 2.5 fWAR.

Clemens is under club-control through the 2029 season, meaning that the Twins could roll with him at first base, Culpepper at second base (pending position change), Houston at shortstop, and Lee at third base for the foreseeable future.

Additionally, Clemens has also been better with a glove compared to Lewis in recent years.

Circling back to Lewis, you may be thinking what about moving him to being the designated hitter?

Well, the outfield mix is quite congested at the moment, with Luke Keaschall, Walker Jenkins, Trevor Larnach, Emmanuel Rodriguez, and Byron Buxton all in the mix. That means that one would either be on the bench (possibly both), or maintain a spot as the designated hitter.

All are likely staying with the organization, considering how young most of them are. Buxton isn’t young anymore, but he’s not leaving unless he wants out. Larnach would probably be the first to go from the group, but that’s still unlikely.

Now, Houston likely won’t be major-league ready for the start of the 2027 season which buys some time for the Twins to potentially find a trade partner for Lewis. While they could trade Lewis this offseason, they may not need to until next summer.

It’s an unfortunate reality, but a change of scenery could benefit both Lewis and the Twins in multiple different ways.