A persistent complaint emanating from Twins fans last year was that their team’s division title was made possible only by the weakness of the American League Central. The complaint, if strange, was also accurate — the Twins had the seventh-best record in the league, yet won their division by nine games. This season, the complaint is defunct.
The Twins trail the excellent Cleveland Guardians in the 2024 race for the division title, and on Monday began a three-game series with one of the best young teams in baseball, the Kansas City Royals, with an 8-3 victory. In the top of the first inning at Target Field, Bobby Witt, Jr., the Royals’ phenom, lined a pitch into the leftfield stands off Twins ace Pablo López.
In the bottom of the second, Royce Lewis, the Twins’ stunning young star, launched a home run deep into the leftfield stands off Royals starter Brady Singer, who entered the game with a highly impressive 3.03 ERA. I don’t ask for much from the sports world.
I work in Minnesota. I’m not allowed to expect much. Please grant one request: Give me 10 more years of this.
Ten more years of Witt’s athletic brilliance, and Lewis’ wholesome showmanship, in beautiful outdoor ballparks separated by six hours of highway driving. Witt is a speedy shortstop on his way to a batting title. Lewis is a former shortstop now anchored at third base because of the presence of Carlos Correa.
Entering the game, Witt’s OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) was .988; Lewis’ was 1.000.
The Royals took Witt with the second pick in the 2019 draft (behind Orioles star catcher Adly Rutschman). The Twins took Lewis with the first pick in 2017. Both are worth the price of admission even if you buy tickets in the Champions Club.
Witt has been durable during his three years in the big leagues. Lewis has not. Which means that we don’t have to try to extrapolate Witt’s achievements.
We have to lend some imagination, or at least math, to Lewis’. On Monday, Lewis played in his 110th big-league game. He has hit 32 home runs.
He’s on pace to hit 47 home runs over his first 162 games. No player in Twins history other than Harmon Killebrew has hit more than 42 home runs in a season. Lewis also has four home runs in six postseason games.
Three of the best sluggers in franchise history — Justin Morneau, Kent Hrbek and Gary Gaetti — never hit more than 34 in a season. Lewis and Witt, at young ages, have become the hitter on their team that nobody wants to face with the game on the line. Speaking of the Royals’ improvement, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said, “It’s a pretty dynamic move they’ve made as an organization, on both sides of the ball, too.
They’re tough. Their starting pitching is a nightly challenge. Their lineup is a combination of impactful swings and athleticism.
“They can beat you in many, many ways ...
Their shortstop is just a wonderful, wonderful player that you can build everything around.” Someone noted that Witt had six hits in four games in the teams’ previous series. “We must have pitched him great,” Baldelli said.
“That’s nowhere near his pace right now. There are only a few players that have played like this in recent memory. “Sometimes you have a good plan, and he hits the ball hard, and there’s not a lot you can do about it.
That’s the way it goes when you’re playing against really great players, and I think that’s what he’s turned into.” Longtime Royals broadcaster Ryan Lefebrvre said, “Every day you come to the ballpark and he does something that makes you think, ‘That’s a different level.’” Lewis has also altered reasonable expectations.
The many injuries that slowed his development, delayed his debut and interrupted his seasons have not kept him from immediately becoming the Twins’ best hitter, and best personality, whenever he returns to the lineup. Witt and Lewis — long may the run, and long may they stay..
