Inside the Twins’ decision to give a hesitant Royce Lewis playing time at second base

ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. – Royce Lewis was candid about his desire to not play second base earlier this week, saying he was “terrified” when he played three innings at the position Sunday, but he made his first career start at second base Wednesday.

Manager Rocco Baldelli emphasized Lewis will play most of his games at his typical third base but moving him to second Wednesday enabled the Twins to put Jose Miranda at third, Carlos Santana at first and Ryan Jeffers at designated hitter when they wanted to stack righthanded hitters in their lineup.

“This is part of the next step for him as far as all the work he’s been putting in,” Baldelli said. “Like anyone going to play a new position, it’s not going to be the most comfortable thing initially. If anyone hasn’t noticed, almost every guy on the field for us, we’ve challenged and put in different spots. Once you go out there and prove certain things to yourself, I think you feel better about it.”

Lewis spent the last few weeks fielding ground balls at second base during batting practice before he made his first appearance at the position Sunday. His hesitation for playing the position, he said, stems from the timing with the Twins in a playoff race and the chance his inexperience will lead to errors.

“It’s not about a position change more than just I don’t feel as comfy at the place that we’re in, in the standings,” Lewis said Monday. “If we were the White Sox, I mean, sure, let’s try something new if that’s what they want to do. But I don’t think we’re the White Sox. We’re trying to win a division.”

Giving Lewis some time at second base in September at least gives him some familiarity with the position if the Twins need him there during the postseason.

“I expect a lot out of our players, but I know nothing is ever going to be perfect,” Baldelli said. “We’re not asking him to go out there and be the Gold Glove Award-winning second basemen this year. We’re just asking him to go out there, work hard, pay attention, improve and make the plays that he’s expecting himself to make, and we’re expecting him to make. I think that would be a great start for him. We can progress from there.”

Louie Varland pitched behind opener Ronny Henriquez on Wednesday, which the Twins planned for a couple of reasons. Varland could maintain his starter-level workload and it gives him a chance to prepare for an eventual move to the bullpen.

“Lou’s going to probably be pitching in some different roles as the season goes on,” Baldelli said.

Varland may have been pushed into the Twins bullpen earlier in the season if it weren’t for injuries to Joe Ryan and Chris Paddack.

“You can’t deplete your organizational staff, your depth, of those guys to move guys to the ‘pen early on,” Baldelli said. “I think in a lot of our conversations, we’re talking about this like there’s a week or two left in the season. We have a ton of baseball still to play. We have weeks and weeks of innings to fill up, so we’re going to need guys that can do this sort of thing. Is it possible that if things went a little bit smoother that he could have found his way into different roles earlier? I do think it’s possible, yes.”

* The Twins optioned reliever Diego Castillo to Class AAA St. Paul after Tuesday’s game to make room for Varland on the 28-man roster.

* Byron Buxton was scheduled to play nine innings for the St. Paul Saints against the Iowa Cubs on Wednesday night, a 2-1 win, but he was ejected during a third-inning at-bat after arguing a pitch clock violation. He was given an automatic strike despite calling for a timeout following a swing and miss, and he was thrown out after later striking out. He has no ejections in his big league career.

* The Twins conducted their annual fantasy football draft Tuesday night, which Pablo López hosted despite not participating in the league. The first five picks were held by Bailey Ober (Christian McCaffrey), Matt Wallner/Edouard Julien (CeeDee Lamb), Cole Sands/Brock Stewart (Tyreek Hill), Lewis (Justin Jefferson) and Buxton/Senior VP of communications Dustin Morse (Breece Hall).