Twins third baseman Royce Lewis hires private hitting coach after disappointing season

FORT MYERS, FLA. – Hitting has always come naturally to Royce Lewis.

He was the No. 1 pick in his major league draft class out of high school. He was a postseason hero during his rookie year with the Twins. Despite major injuries, he produced a .297 batting average, 32 home runs, 91 RBI and a .951 OPS in his first 110 major league games.

Yet as quickly as Lewis’ star rose, he plummeted.

Last year was a disappointment. For the first time in his baseball career, there was no consistency. Any hot stretches were followed by prolonged cold spells. Out of 11 Twins who played in at least 75 games last year, Lewis’ .671 OPS ranked 10th.

When Lewis entered the offseason, he knew he needed to make changes. On advice from Royals superstar Bobby Witt Jr. and former Twins infielder Jorge Polanco, Lewis hired their private hitting coach, Jeremy Isenhower, who is based in Houston.

“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. Honestly, when Bobby Witt tells you something, you might want to listen.”

Lewis hit with former All-Stars Torii Hunter and Matt Kemp in previous offseasons, but he used his father, William, as a sounding board for his swing issues during the season.

When Isenhower first watched video of Lewis’ at-bats, he told Lewis he counted five different batting stances in some games. The primary focus of their winter workouts was drilling down to a consistent stance and loading mechanism before Lewis starts his swing.

Some of the drills Lewis did were different than anything he had done in his career.

“When I started doing stuff, it almost felt like I was hitting lefthanded,” Lewis said. “’What do you want me to do?’ It’s almost so dumbfoundingly simple, but more mechanical. I’ve never been like that.

“He literally told me to swing over the ball. I would swing 80% of the time over a foam baseball. A good swing for him was a ground ball to short. When I watched Bobby do this over and over in the cage and he was like, ‘Yeah! Yeah!’

“I’ve never seen someone getting excited about hitting ground balls in the cage. But he does it on purpose because he knows in games when you face Joe Ryan, it’s not the same as that stupid [pitching] machine.”

Polanco vouched for Isenhower’s teaching ability, which sold Lewis that this was the path he needed to take. Polanco hit .265 with 26 homers, 30 doubles and 78 RBI in 138 games, and his .821 OPS was his highest since 2021.

“I used to be next to Polo in the locker room,” Lewis said. “We were so close. He said, ‘Papi, this is the guy, I promise.’”

Lewis estimated he visited Isenhower in Houston about six times during the winter, often hitting in a weekend group with Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm and White Sox prospect Braden Montgomery. He made the four-hour drive from Dallas to Houston on Fridays, and he stayed at former teammate Carlos Correa’s house for most of the weekend, playing “a lot of Mario Kart” with Correa’s two young sons.

Correa “makes the best food of all time — I’ve got to put that on the record,” Lewis said. “He’s the best chef.”

This offseason, in some ways, represents a fresh start. New manager Derek Shelton made it a priority to visit Lewis a few days after his introductory news conference, chatting over BBQ in Dallas.

The way Lewis described his weight room workouts is more power, more explosiveness and more volume.

“It shocked my body, especially the first month,” said Lewis, who noted it includes a lot of squats.

Lewis is in the beginning stages of working with new Twins hitting coach Keith Beauregard, and the early results have been promising. Lewis hit a home run that landed on the concourse in left field during a live at-bat against Twins lefty reliever Kody Funderburk in a recent workout.

“It feels like everyone is excited for the year,” Lewis said. “You can genuinely feel that. I think we’re ready to shock people. We don’t even have to say anything about it. People just keep writing us off. Whatever, that’s fine. I’m ready for that.”

Lewis could be at the center of it. If he hits well, the Twins offense typically follows.