Twins' Friday lineup features both Royce Lewis and Brooks Lee for first time

Lewis and Lee will make up the left side of the infield for the Twins against the Tigers.

Jun 21, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; Minnesota Twins third base Royce Lewis (23) fields the ball against the Oakland Athletics during the third inning at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. / Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

For the first time ever, both Royce Lewis and Brooks Lee are in the Twins' lineup together tonight. Lewis, fresh off of his second IL stint of the season, is hitting cleanup and playing third base in Friday night's game against the Tigers at Comerica Park. Lee is hitting eighth and filling in for the injured Carlos Correa at shortstop.

The Twins hope both players will be fixtures in the same lineup for hundreds and hundreds of games moving forward. Lewis, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 draft, just needs to stay healthy. When he's been able to play, he's proven himself to be the Twins' best player and one of the most dangerous hitters in all of baseball. The issue is that he's only played in 94 of Minnesota's 346 regular season games since his MLB debut in May 2022.

BREAKING NEWS: Royce Lewis is going to be an absolute menace in tonight’s game. #mntwins pic.twitter.com/Xo7D9yHQbY

— Marissa Voss™ (@marissavoss) July 26, 2024

Lee, the Twins' first-round selection in '22, has been cold recently after a hot six-game start to his big-league career. He went 11 for 24 with 8 RBI in his first six games after being called up in early July, but has gone just 5 of 44 since then, dropping his season OPS to .650 in 16 games. Nonetheless, the 23-year-old switch hitter figures to be a big part of the Twins' future.

In Lewis, Lee, Byron Buxton (No. 1 overall in 2012), and Trevor Larnach (No. 20 in 2018), the Twins' Friday lineup features four homegrown first-round draft picks, plus two other players (Max Kepler and Matt Wallner) who came up through the organization.

Twins 7/26

Castro 2B
Buxton CF
Larnach LF
Lewis 3B
Kepler RF
Santana 1B
Wallner DH
Lee SS
Vázquez C

López SP

— Underdog MLB (@Underdog__MLB) July 26, 2024

The Twins will get even more of a boost to their lineup once Correa and Jose Miranda return from the IL. Miranda could be back on Saturday for the second game of this three-game set in Detroit. Correa's going to be out a bit longer as he recovers from plantar fasciitis.

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