Playing Second Base, Royce Lewis Stays Red Hot With Grand Slam for Saints

Ever since the Twins demoted him to Triple-A St. Paul a couple weeks ago, Royce Lewis has been swinging the bat like a man possessed.

After a two-homer game on Tuesday night, Lewis crushed a grand slam off of former big-league pitcher Carson Fulmer as part of a three-hit day on Wednesday afternoon as the Saints cruised past the Indianapolis Indians at CHS Field. It's his tenth home run in just 13 games with St. Paul this season, between a two-game rehab assignment in mid-April and 11 contests since he was optioned on May 19.

The grand slam might not be the most notable part of Wednesday's game for Lewis. What stands out even more is that he got the start at second base defensively for the first time. With Brooks Lee moving from shortstop to third base for the Twins recently, Lewis may need to move to the right side of the infield in order to return to the major-league club.

Make it 1 career home run as a second baseman for Royce Lewis. It's also the 9th grand slam of his career. He is the fastest to 10 home runs in a season in franchise history, doing it in 13 games. Previous record was 25 by @spenc__er in 2021. pic.twitter.com/n0PG4axQlM
— St. Paul Saints (@StPaulSaints) June 3, 2026

Lewis played some shortstop and a few innings of center field as a rookie in 2022 before tearing his ACL. Neither of those positions are options for him moving forward. Since the 2023 season with the Twins, he's spent 99.5 percent of his time at third base, with just eight innings at second and one at shortstop. Lee is now blocking his return to third.

It'll be a work in progress, but Lewis looked fairly comfortable at second base for the Saints on Wednesday. He turned a double play with Twins star shortstop prospect Kaelen Culpepper in the first inning, tagged out a potential base-stealer to end the second, and handled a few other routine ground balls throughout the game. He's also expected to get some work at first base moving forward.

First opportunity at second base for Royce Lewis. Nice easy 4-6-3 double play. pic.twitter.com/fQzObm6fiC
— St. Paul Saints (@StPaulSaints) June 3, 2026

At the plate, Lewis is making it hard for the Twins to keep him in St. Paul. With the 10 homers in 13 games, he's hitting .358 for the Saints and has an OPS of 1.395 through 58 plate appearances. And while it's true that Triple-A pitching and MLB pitching are notably different, Lewis seems to have made some changes to his swing since being sent down. He looks a lot more comfortable and fluid at the plate than he did with the Twins earlier this season, when he had a .539 OPS over 31 games.

Royce says, "Choo-choo on that"🚂#stpaulsaints | @MauerBuickGMC @mauerchevrolet pic.twitter.com/TCdBjYPX8w
— St. Paul Saints (@StPaulSaints) June 3, 2026

While the Twins were getting blanked 8-0 by the White Sox at Target Field on Wednesday, the Saints were mashing their way to a 10-1 win. They went up 4-0 right away on a Culpepper single, a Hendry Mendez two-run homer, a Lewis single, and a Matt Wallner two-run homer. Lewis then hit his grand slam in the seventh inning to really break the game open. He added an RBI single in the eighth.

It feels like only a matter of time until the Twins tap into the Saints' lineup for some help on offense, whether it's a Lewis return or the promotion of a prospect like Culpepper or Mendez. The only reason to wait a bit longer on Lewis would be to get him some more reps at both first and second base.

While the Twins were getting shut out today, the Saints were mashing across town. Royce Lewis hit a grand slam for his 10th homer in 13 games at Triple-A.

Time to bring some of these guys up. pic.twitter.com/cxFh2aQ9Na
— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) June 3, 2026

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