FORT MYERS, Fla. — After feeling isolated too often when he struggled to find solutions at the plate, Royce Lewis decided to do something about it.

Hoping to never be stranded for too long again, the Minnesota Twins third baseman hired a hitting coach for the first time in his professional career.

Even though he played more games than ever, Lewis’ offensive production was a career worst as he batted .237/.283/.388 with 13 home runs in 403 plate appearances.

He realized a change was needed if he ever wanted to achieve stardom. Following the advice of a former teammate, Lewis began working out with a Houston-based hitting coach this offseason.

Now, he’s eager to see how the work he put in translates. An upbeat Lewis checked into Twins camp on Saturday morning, two days ahead of the team’s first full-squad workout.

“It was recognition (of needing a constant voice) and the recognition I felt like I didn’t have the answer for myself,” Lewis said. “Your athleticism and talent can only take you so far in this game. You need some of those mechanical adjustments, those coaches to lean on to help out. … I haven’t seen any of the effects yet, obviously. It’ll take some time. When I started doing stuff, it almost felt like I was hitting left-handed. … It’s almost so dumb-foundingly simple, but more mechanical. I’ve never been like that.”

Lewis rarely has sounded as he did Saturday, far more mature in his tone than in past seasons. Looking inward for perhaps the first time in his career, Lewis realized this winter that he no longer could get by on talent alone anymore.

Last August, Lewis hinted he might be on this path after describing in great detail the emotions of a frustrating season at the plate. During the interview, Lewis suggested he didn’t have a go-to person to discuss his struggles with and he didn’t feel comfortable constantly bugging his friends around the game.

After speaking to former teammate Jorge Polanco, who’d hired a new coach ahead of a career year at the plate, Lewis decided to make a change.
Lewis eventually hired Houston-based coach Jeremy Isenhower, who also works with Bobby Witt Jr. and Alec Bohm, among others.

Though he was commenting on how much Lewis had grown since their first interactions in 2018 and 2019, Twins manager Derek Shelton suggested Lewis is maturing. Shelton gathered as much during his November trip to Texas to meet Lewis in the days after he was introduced as the team’s new manager.

“I wanted to see where he was at,” Shelton said. “And when you hear a kid talk about, I wish I would have done this different, or I grew from this, or I learned from this, you’re like, ‘All right, this is the time where it’s needing to take a step.’ … You have to take care of your body. You have to put yourself in a situation where you’re seeking external advice. And then No. 3, you have to have the maturity to realize that you’ve made some mistakes.”

Lewis’ outside coach has already been in contact with new Twins hitting coach Keith Beauregard to detail what the pair is working on in their sessions. Lewis described the work as all-encompassing, a mix of mechanical changes as well as approach.

Lewis previously counted his father as one of his most consistent voices and also worked with Torii Hunter and Matt Kemp. But Lewis felt like he needed a new outside voice.

“I never had a private hitting coach,” Lewis said. “I always love listening to my dad, but I think I needed just a different voice just because he’s busy working. That’s a full-time job for my dad to call me every night and see what I’m doing. It just got to be a lot. … I added a new hitting coach so that we can work in conjunction with Keith and the new guys that we hired.”

Perhaps even more surprising than hiring a hitting coach, Lewis said he stayed at the home of former teammate Carlos Correa every time he traveled to Houston. Lewis made six trips to Houston during the offseason and hung out with Correa, who was critical of the work habits of Lewis and other young Twins players in 2024.

“This offseason was my favorite,” Lewis said. “I got to hang out with Carlos Correa again and his kids. We played a lot of Mario Kart. He makes the best food of all time. I’ve got to put that on the record. He’s the best chef.”

Andrew Chafin, who has a 3.03 ERA in 302 games over the past five seasons, is known to be a character. He’ll join a lively group of bullpen personalities in Minnesota. (Scott Marshall / Getty Images)

Reliever Andrew Chafin signs with Twins

The Twins added yet another lively personality to the bullpen late Friday when left-hander Andrew Chafin signed a minor-league deal with an invitation to spring training.

Chafin, who has a 3.03 ERA in 302 games over the past five seasons, is known to be a character, which puts him in the same boat as two recent relief additions, Liam Hendriks and Anthony Banda. Banda arrived in Twins camp on Saturday morning after he was acquired in a trade from the Los Angeles Dodgers, while Hendriks threw his first bullpen after signing a minor-league deal.

Along with mid-January signee Taylor Rogers, the trio would give Shelton more much-needed stability in the late innings — if they make the club. But Shelton admits he’s also a bit excited about the life that’s been added to his clubhouse during the first week in camp.

“I love the personalities,” Shelton said. “I love the banter. … When you’re adding a different subset of personalities into a group, it’s good for our young players. What Liam has been through in the last three years alone, whether he’s a major league player or just in life, and his personality, yeah, I want that into our group. At times, you get young players that are big deer eyes and ‘What’s going on?’ Then you add a little personality. Especially in this setting, spring training is exciting right now, but March 10 it’s going to be like, ‘Oh, my god, when are we going to Baltimore?’ When you add guys like that into the group, it makes it a lot more fun.”

Surprised by the trade, Banda is excited to reunite with Shelton, whom he played for with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2021-22. In the aftermath of being designated for assignment, Banda expected to be traded but didn’t know where.

“It was a little bit of, I guess, a blindside. I wasn’t expecting that,” Banda said. “But going into it and then finding an opportunity elsewhere, it’s been great. It’s been a whirlwind of a day, or a week, really. But (the Dodgers) were amazing. They helped me grow as a player. They do amazing things over there, and I have nothing but great things (to say) about what they do as an organization and individually as a person.”