With an eight game lead over the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central standings with 14 games left in the season, the Minnesota Twins have a 99.9 percent chance of winning the division. The Twins have managed to bounce back from their 78-84 season in 2022, thanks in large part to the contributions from star third baseman Royce Lewis.
It has not been the easiest 2023 season for Lewis. He missed a considerable amount of time due to an oblique injury. After the Twins’ 10-2 win over the Chicago White Sox on Friday night, Lewis has played in just 54 games this season, missing plenty of time after the team called him up in May. But it hasn’t stopped Lewis at all from making quite the huge impact for the team whenever he’s up and running on the diamond.
In the second inning of their win against the White Sox, the Twins third baseman hit another grand slam, giving the team a 4-0 lead that they wouldn’t relinquish. And in doing so, Royce Lewis tallied his fifth grand slam in just his 66th career big league game, needing the fewest number of games to tally as many bases-clearing home runs as he has, per ESPN Stats & Info.
Just to put in perspective how insane of a feat this is, the only other player who has managed to hit five grand slams within their first 150 career games is Rudy York, the late Detroit Tigers star who did so in 139 games. Lewis accomplished his feat in 73 fewer games, which is quite remarkable.
In baseball, sequencing is often important, and Royce Lewis, to this point in his career, is proving that he has his timing down pat — with the Twins being better off because of it. Lewis ranks fourth overall in the MLB (per Stats.com) in batting average with the bases loaded (minimum eight at-bats), hitting 6-11 during such situations.
In the playoffs, with every at-bat being high-leverage, the Twins will want nothing more than Lewis to be the one to come to the plate whenever scoring opportunities present itself. Now it’s up to the 24-year old third baseman to remain calm under pressure.
