After Pohlad’s Apology, Royce Lewis Sees Something New From Twins Owner

In Twins Territory, there's a well-established fear that the Pohlad family, which has owned the franchise since 1984, are people pleasers who tell fans what they want to hear only to fall short of expectations with their actions.

Tom Pohlad, who recently took the controlling owner role from his younger brother Joe, might be different. He's already claimed the Twins were seriously trying to sign left-hander Framber Valdez before he settled for the Detroit Tigers. That's the kind of attempt that would match his promise to be an aggressive leader.

It's a good start, and now he's getting rave reviews in Fort Myers, Florida, where third baseman Royce Lewis has been impressed with his actions. In fact, Lewis says Tom apologized for his family's past trangressions.

"Seeing Tom Pohlad come out and talk to us and be very candid about where him and his family lie, and that they apologized for some of the things that may have happened in the past," Lewis told SKOR North's Declan Goff. "They're looking forward to putting their next best step forward and bringing back Twins baseball to a championship-winning team. I think that was huge. It definitely acknowledges the fact that the elephant in the room is there, so it was really cool to see Tom do that."

Lewis didn't get into specifics, but we can imagine that Tom might've apologized for his family shedding payroll significantly after Minnesota snapped its historic postseason losing streak in 2023, followed by painful seasons in 2024 and 2025, including trading 10 core players, some of whom were still under contract for the Twins for multiple years.

"I can't speak to what they're going to do," Lewis added, "but I think, honestly, just him coming out and being around, being engaged with not only the players, but the fans around here in Fort Myers, it's been pretty special.

"He left just to be with family and get the kids back into school, but he's coming back right away. He said, 'Game 1's Friday, 'I'll be here.' It's exciting to see an owner that engaged. I've never seen that happen, personally. Maybe, you talk about old (George) Steinbrenner, or Jerry Jones because he's literally the GM, he's everything. Very few owners do that, and I thought that was really huge."

Lewis has big goals in 2026

"I can't wait to shock everybody. Shock the world, and even shock a few of our own people in here, maybe," Lewis said.

"I'm facing Taj (Bradley), I'm facing Mick (Abel), I'm facing some of these pitchers, Simeon Woods (Richardson), Joe Ryan obviously, Bailey Ober, all those guys. It's not a fun at-bat, and I can't imagine the rest of the league's feeling super comfy. Seeing 98 (mph) move like that as it does, it's impressive, so I know that we're going to be alright."

The Twins have already lost staff ace Pablo Lopez for the season, but Lewis is clearly pretty high on a potential rotation featuring Ryan, Bradley, Ober, Woods Richardson, and Abel. Ryan and Ober appear to be the only locks to be in the starting five, while Bradley, Woods Richardson, Abel, Zebby Matthews, and perhaps a couple of other guys, are in the mix for the other three spots.

On a personal note, Lewis thinks big numbers will follow if he's able to stay healthy.

"Get myself into the box, 700 plate appearances, and I think the stats will speak for themselves at that point," Lewis said. "My goal is to get in, get preset, get into my load properly, early and on time, and then go from there."