Royce Lewis ponders future with Twins as end of season approaches

Royce Lewis took added pleasure in his pinch hit home run on Sunday for a couple of reasons — one sentimental and one a little cryptic.

“My grandma told me, ‘Hit it like you’re hitting on my birthday,” Lewis said, adding, “Every time I’ve hit on her birthday, I’ve hit a homer. She told me that last night, and it worked out.”

But there was another reason his 13th homer of the season was particularly gratifying, he said, one that caused some curious looks by those he was talking to.

“You never know if it’s going to be your last at-bat here or what,” Lewis said. “You never know.”

Wait, is the former No. 1 overall draft pick expecting to be traded over the winter?

“It has [crossed my mind], but we don’t know what direction” the team plans to take, Lewis said candidly after the Twins’ 6-2 victory over Cleveland. “I can’t control anything.”

True enough, and the Twins front office certainly has shown no hesitation to trade almost anyone. So Lewis, 26 and still three years away from free agency, said he is soaking in these last few weeks of the season, just in case.

Lewis said the past two months have given him one regret. When he re-aggravated his hamstring injury in June, he put pressure on himself to hurry back, because the team was foundering. Ultimately, he returned after missing only 15 games.

“I came back way too early, trying to make a push with the guys we had. Then ultimately we ended up trading away 11 guys, [and] I was really bummed that I came back a little too soon,” Lewis said. “My body wasn’t necessarily fully trusting. My mind, my body were off. So it sets you back and then you have 75 at-bats where it’s kind of building up spring training timing again. It’s just hard to manage, man. It’s extremely hard.”

He batted only .204 with four home runs in August, but he has found his footing again in September, batting .274 and stealing nine bases without being caught.

“This is my 100th game and my body feels great. I feel really good and I’m looking forward to carrying that into next year, that stamina, that excitement,” Lewis said. “Then go out there and start off fresh and not have any bumps in the road.”

Sunday’s game was an extremely mild silver-lining of a finish to the Twins’ home season for the announced crowd of 22,526 fans in attendance, considering the team owns the American League’s worst record since Aug. 1.

It didn’t help, of course, that the Twins finished with a 38-43 record at home, just the second time in the past nine years they have been a sub-.500 team in Minnesota.

The Twins’ next game at Target Field is April 3 vs. the Rays.

Catcher Jhonny Pereda singled and doubled in four at-bats on Sunday, raising his average with the Twins to .246. The 29-year-old, who has spent 12 years in the minor leagues, hopes his performance this month, with Ryan Jeffers and Christian Vázquez on the injured list, will earn him a chance to make the team next spring.

“I’m just doing my work, hoping to show them what I can do,” Pereda said. “I’m feeling more comfortable as a hitter, so this has been a good opportunity.”

He is making a strong impression, manager Rocco Baldelli said.

Pereda said he plans to go home and play in the Venezuelan winter league to prepare for next season, potentially risking complications returning to the United States next spring due to political tensions between the two countries.

• The Twins left for Arlington, Texas, on Sunday, and will begin a series with the Rangers on Tuesday. As is tradition for the final road trip, rookies were required to travel in costume. Pablo López provided the costumes, which ranged from Elvis to Waldo to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

• Jeffers accompanied the Twins on their weeklong road trip, though Baldelli would not say whether Jeffers is likely to be activated from the concussion list in the season’s final week. Even if he is, it seems unlikely the Twins would risk putting him behind the plate again this season.