Royce Lewis, in just 9 games, garnering 'top-10 player' attention

With five homers in nine games, Lewis's 162-game homer pace is a ridiculous 90.

Jun 12, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Twins designated hitter Royce Lewis (23) celebrates his two-run home run against the Colorado Rockies in the sixth inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports | Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

It's no secret why the Minnesota Twins took Royce Lewis with the No. 1 pick in the 2017 MLB draft. He had superstar potential then and he's living up to the hype in the big leagues, and if he can stay healthy he could become one of baseball's biggest names.

If you ask a couple of MLB Network analysts, Lewis already is a top-10 player.

"Royce Lewis is currently a top-10 player in baseball," said Chris Young, the former MLB player who now works at MLB Network. "He is that talent for me."

"He's a difference-maker. When you talk to him, he wants to be out there so bad and when you watch him play the game, how exciting he is, he's a game-changer," fellow former MLBer and MLB Network analyst Cliff Floyd added. "He is a guy that helps them get over the hump, as far as that team winning that division."

Lewis, who has played in just nine games this season because of a quad strain that knocked him out for two months, is slashing .367/.394/.933 (1.327 OPS) with five homers and eight RBIs.

In Minnesota's 17-run, 24-hit clobbering of Colorado on Wednesday, Lewis had three hits, including a towering homer into the upper deck at Target Field and a stinging opposite-field double that left his bat at 104 mph.

According to Baseball Savant, Lewis has hit the ball 26 times in nine games and his barrel rate – when he makes great contact – is 23.1%. It's a small sample size, but if he maintains that rate he would rank second in the majors behind New York's Aaron Judge.

Judge's 28.2% barrel rate is mind-boggling considering the second-best qualified barrel rate in baseball is from his teammate, Juan Soto, at 19.3%. Shohei Ohtani, by the way, is third at 19.2%.

Lewis has superstar potential and the league is taking notice.