Souhan: Last season’s struggles proved valuable for Twins' Royce Lewis

PORT CHARLOTTE, FLA. – The Twins’ Big Three traveled to the Rays’ Charlotte Park on Monday. After Royce Lewis launched a patented no-doubt, celebration-starting home run in a game wiped out by rain, all three had something to say.

Byron Buxton said he could have done more to help Lewis last year.

Carlos Correa said Lewis will be better for his struggles.

Lewis said he bears no scars from his first big-league slump.

“It’s not meaningless,” he said of his home run. “Every at-bat counts. I have a good approach right now and I’m going to keep sticking with that, grow off of that. And, you know, it was awesome for me. My Mom and sister were here, their last day here, so I got to take care of business before they leave.”

Business was bad for Lewis last September.

His worst month as a big-leaguer coincided with, or helped cause, the Twins’ epic September collapse, shortly after Lewis said he doesn’t “do slumps.”

Monday afternoon, he proved that the slump didn’t change his gregarious personality. He hugged the Rays’ clubhouse workers and offered to delay going to the bus if anybody wanted to speak with him further.

Lewis isn’t hiding from his struggles. He batted .176 after that Sept. 1 homer as the Twins collapsed. The young hitter who had previously seemed impervious to pressure hit zero home runs after Sept. 1.

Asked Monday if he remembered his last homer, he said, “It might have been the one against Toronto at home. I hit one into the planters [in right field at Target Field]. I hit it to put us ahead, 4-3.”

His memory is acute. Correa said Lewis should also remember the bad times.

“He’s a young player who learned just how hard baseball is,” Correa said. “He’ll be better for it. You have to learn how to struggle in baseball, and how to get through your struggles. He learned a lot.”

Buxton thinks Lewis wasn’t the only one.

“Seeing him go through that didn’t feel too good,” Buxton said. ”Especially the way the season is going, and everything just felt like it was crumbling down. It was a lot of pressure on him.

“Me, specifically, I have to make sure we pick him up in situations like that, make sure he doesn’t get down on himself. Speaking for myself, I felt like I could have done a better job at that, trying to guide him through those tough times. Rather than focus on us overall, and trying to help make a big change, I should have looked right next to me and realized that one word could have changed his whole outlook and the whole outcome. That’s something I’m learning.”

Lewis believes he knows what went wrong, and it’s something that even good advice may not have altered.

“My body was just kind of shutting down on me,” he said. “I think that was the most frustrating part, not the struggles, per se. You’re going to fail in his game plenty of times. Hall of Famers fail seven out of 10 times.

“I was just frustrated that my body failed me. I’ve gone through ACL tears, hamstrings, groins, whatever, and I always come back and I’m stronger. But my story isn’t finished.”

Lewis did learn something from Buxton — that playing all-out isn’t always what’s best for the team.

“I had to play a little safer,” he said. “Stealing was off limits; save your legs. But I didn’t grow up like that. I’ve always played the game at 150 percent every single day. I’m starting to learn that you can’t do that if you want to play 162 games.”

Buxton, Correa and Lewis are healthy and eager to prove they can stay on the field together.

“Seeing Royce be Royce is always fun,” Buxton said. “When he believes in himself and trusts himself and understands how good he really is, you’ll see this every night.”

Will Twins fans see Buxton play almost every night?

“I want to play more games,” Buxton said. “It’s a different mindset when you mentally feel at peace, and I do.”