The Twins planned to park Royce Lewis next to Carlos Correa on the left side of the infield and have him be their starting third baseman, letting him settle in at a position of his own.

But by the time the 2024 season ended, the man who played the most third base for them wasn’t Lewis but rather Jose Miranda, who started the season at Triple-A and worked his way back into the Twins’ plans.

2024 RECAP

Lewis lasted two at-bats into the 2024 season before getting injured, suffering a right quadriceps strain while running the bases on Opening Day. He missed 58 games before returning to the Twins in early June.

A month later, he landed on the injured list again, this time with an adductor strain that kept him out for most of the month of July.

Initially, Willi Castro slid over and filled in there for Lewis while he was sidelined. Eventually Miranda was called up and reestablished himself after an injury-plagued 2023 season that was essentially a lost year for him.

Kyle Farmer, now a free agent, saw time at third base, as did Brooks Lee, who looked very smooth there down the stretch.

Lewis, meanwhile, played 51 games at third base and had some throwing issues, leading the Twins to try him briefly at second base. In total, he played in 82 games, the most for him in any season in his major-league career and he spoke late in the year about having to manage his body through it and the toll it was taking on him.

His numbers tailed off late in the season —  the man who proclaimed he never slumped earlier in the season did, in fact, slump — and finished the year hitting .233 with a .747 OPS and 16 home runs in just over half a season.

2025 OUTLOOK

A simple answer would be to put Lewis at third base once again. But as mentioned when looking at second base, Lee is likely the better defender of the two at both positions.

The Twins must decide if they plan on having Lewis stay at third or if they want to try him at second — a position he was resistant to — once again and shift Lee to third.

Though third base has been Miranda’s primary position as a major leaguer, the Twins currently have a hole at first base with Carlos Santana reaching free agency and Alex Kirilloff retiring and that makes it likely that Miranda will see most of his time on the other side of the infield.

Castro, while certainly an option at third, is likely to keep moving around the field with some third base mixed in, the way the Twins have utilized him the past two seasons.

While third base is not a position that needs to be addressed externally, there are some questions here. In all likelihood, all of that group — Lewis, Lee, Castro and Miranda — should see some playing time at third base next season.