Inside The Twins

Royce Lewis jumps 13 spots in MLB's top-100 rankings for 2025

Lewis rising after slumping for the entire second half of the season is a bit of a surprise.

Joe Nelson

Sep 25, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Twins third baseman Royce Lewis (23) celebrates scoring a run against the Miami Marlins in the seventh inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images
Sep 25, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Twins third baseman Royce Lewis (23) celebrates scoring a run against the Miami Marlins in the seventh inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images / Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images
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If we're being honest, we're not really sure how it's possible that Royce Lewis made a jump from 2024 to 2025 in MLB Network's top-100 players rankings. After enduring a brutal slump that ate up most of July, August and September, Lewis has found himself still garnering big-time respect.

Lewis entered 2024 with the No. 95 ranking in MLB Network's top 100, and he's starting 2025 with the No. 82 ranking. That's one spot ahead of three-time batting champion Luis Arraez and two spots in front of All-Star Jurickson Profar.

Lewis was slashing .371/.437/.903 through June 22 last season only to finish with a batter's line of .233/.295/.452. To say he went from smashing the ball like Aaron Judge to hitting like Denny Hocking would be borderline fair, albeit a bit cruel considering Lewis still hit for some power.

It'll be interesting to see how many Twins make the top 100. Last year, Pablo Lopez (56) and Carlos Correa (68) were also included in the rankings.

Lopez and Correa are arguably top-100 players again this season, and you could also make a case for the likes of Bailey Ober, Byron Buxton and Griffin Jax.

MLB Network is in the process of unveiling its top 100 for 2025 and on Thursday night the network revealed Nos. 100-81.

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Joe Nelson
JOE NELSON

Joe Nelson has more than 20 years of experience in Minnesota sports journalism. Nelson began his career in sports radio, working at smaller stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before moving to the highly-rated KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. While there, he produced the popular mid-morning show hosted by Minnesota Vikings play-by-play announcer Paul Allen. His time in radio laid the groundwork for his transition to sports writing in 2011. He covers the Vikings, Timberwolves, Gophers and Twins for On SI.

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