Royce Lewis has been on a two-week heater. And even after a bad game Sunday, he's batted .272/.335/.500 with 10 homers in 53 games since rejoining the Twins' lineup after a shorter-than-expected demotion to Triple-A. In two months, Lewis has raised his OPS from .539 to .734, which is now solidly above league average.
Going from hitting .163 with a .539 OPS before the demotion to hitting .272 with an .835 OPS after the demotion is a remarkable in-season turnaround, and Lewis' underlying metrics, before and after spending three weeks with the Saints, show the fruits of mechanical and approach adjustments.
In the days leading up to the demotion, Lewis' plate discipline deteriorated to the point he sometimes appeared to have decided to swing before the pitch was even thrown. Since returning, he's swung at 9 percent fewer pitches outside the strike zone, whiffed on 16 percent fewer swings, and struck out 29 percent less often.
Not only has Lewis made a lot more contact since returning, the type and quality of that contact has also improved dramatically. His average bat speed is up 2 mph and it's led to harder contact, with his average exit velocity also rising 3 mph and about 10 percent more of his balls in play qualifying as "hard hit."
Better yet, Lewis has maximized that combo of more contact and harder contact by elevating more pitches and keeping the ball off the ground. His average launch angle has risen from 15 degrees to 23 degrees, which can be directly linked to his 24 percent reduction in ground balls. And extra-base hits are found in the air.
