FORT MYERS, Fla. — Royce Lewis‘ offseason work is already paying off.
Lewis homered in his first at-bat of 2026 on Saturday, pummeling a 2-2 pitch over the berm and onto the outfield concourse at Lee Health Sports Complex in the first inning of Minnesota’s 7-2 loss in the Grapefruit League opener against the Red Sox. The ball traveled a projected 413 feet, per Statcast, and was clocked at 108.2 mph off of Lewis’ bat.
Lewis, coming off a frustrating 2025 season, worked with an outside hitting coach for the first time this winter as he looks to regain the form that made him a star in 2023 and for much of 2024.
He worked a deep count off of prospect Payton Tolle, checking his swing on a 1-2 changeup before turning on a 96 mph fastball. He struggled mightily against four-seam fastballs in 2025, but he was all over the pitch from Tolle.
“It was encouraging,” said manager Derek Shelton. “He had two really good at-bats. Right off the jump, to be able to get to the fastball, I know he’s been working all winter all long, an adjustment to his setup. To get immediate success with it, I think, is very encouraging.”
Lewis followed the homer with an RBI single in the fourth inning after Luke Keaschall hit a leadoff triple.
Jeffers gives challenges a try
Ryan Jeffers went 0-for-2 at the plate on Saturday, but 1-for-2 on challenges with the ABS Challenge System — both with Masataka Yoshida at the plate.
Jeffers was unsuccessful on his first attempt, with a 1-1 ball from Eston Stull that was 2.1 inches out of the zone being upheld. Yoshida walked two pitches later to lead off the top of the second inning.
On his second try, he was successful. Jeffers challenged a ball call on an 0-1 slider from Simeon Woods Richardson in the top of of the fourth — also with Yoshida at the plate. The initial call was overturned as the pitch caught the bottom inside corner of the zone, and Yoshida hit into a double play two pitches later.
“I thought it was good,” Shelton said. “We knew last year in Spring Training from tracking it that he was really good at it. We have to figure out where this is at. … The challenging thing for both umpires, hitters and catchers right now is they’ve been sitting for five months and now they’re reacclimating themselves to the zone. He was 1-for-2 on it. I thought it was fine.”
Woods Richardson pitched two effective innings in his 2026 debut, striking out two and allowing one hit. He needed only 21 pitches to get those six outs, mixing in four different offerings.
Perhaps most notably, he threw six split-fingered fastballs, a pitch he only began working into his assortment late last season. He got two swinging strikes on the pitch.
“When you add a weapon like that, and today we saw it as a weapon, he threw a couple that were really good,” Shelton said. “Yeah, it’s a weapon. It helps on both sides of the plate. It hopefully helps neutralize left-handers, which is really encouraging. Overall, I thought Sim did really well.”
