11:02am: Right-hander Justin Topa is being designated for assignment to make room for Arcia on the 40-man roster, per MLB.com’s Matthew Leach. It sounds as though there’ll be additional roster juggling for the Twins at some point today, as this sequence leaves them at 25 players and short one arm in the ‘pen.
10:58am: Minnesota is selecting the contract of veteran infielder Orlando Arcia to take Lewis’ spot on the big league roster, Hayes further reports. They’ll need to make a corresponding 40-man roster move to get Arcia onto the roster.
10:52am: The Twins have optioned third baseman Royce Lewis to Triple-A St. Paul following a dismal start to his 2026 season, Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports. It’s the first time since 2022 that the former No. 1 overall pick has been optioned, and it’s the second member of Minnesota’s Opening Day lineup to be sent down in the past week. The Twins also sent struggling right fielder Matt Wallner out last Thursday — his first time being optioned in two years.
Now 26 years old, Lewis looked bound for stardom when he debuted in 2022-23 with a .307/.364/.549 slash and 17 homers in his first 70 MLB games (280 plate appearances). On top of that performance, he went on to club four homers in 26 plate appearances during Minnesota’s 2023 postseason run. Injuries have taken their toll and derailed the promising slugger’s trajectory. Lewis has twice torn the ACL in his right knee. He’s also had three strains/partial tears of his left hamstring, a quad strain in his right leg and (earlier this year) a mild sprain in his left knee.
In 31 games and 119 plate appearances this season, Lewis is hitting just .163/.261/.279. Strikeouts have never been a prominent issue for him in the past — he posted a 21% strikeout rate from 2022-25 — but he’s fanned in 31.1% of his plate appearances this season. Lewis’ 32.8% chase rate on balls off the plate isn’t egregiously higher than his 31.4% career mark, but it’s way north of the 28.2% mark he showed during that 2022-23 flash of potential stardom. Meanwhile, his contact rate on pitches within the zone has dropped from 83.7% entering the year to just 78.3%. His contact rate when he does chase off the plate has cratered, falling from 59.1% in 2022-25 to only 44% this season.
Because it’s been so long since he was sent down, Lewis is still in the second of three minor league option years. He’s making $2.85MM this season after avoiding arbitration over the winter, and he’s already crossed the four-year threshold in service time this season, so a minor league assignment doesn’t change his potential timeline to free agency. Getting to six years of service and free agency isn’t a guarantee at this point, however. He’ll need to get back on track in the minors or else risk being non-tendered following the season.
With Lewis headed across the Mississippi River for the time being, third base seems likely to be handled by a combination of Arcia and utilityman Ryan Kreidler. Arcia, the younger brother of former Twins top prospect and outfielder Oswaldo Arcia, has an inconsistent big league track record but has been on a tear in St. Paul this season.
Once ranked as one of the sport’s 10 best prospects, the younger Arcia never found his footing with his original organization, the Brewers. Milwaukee wound up trading him to Atlanta in 2021, and Arcia went on a nice two-year run with the Braves, hitting .258/.319/.419 in 767 plate appearances from 2022-23. The same struggles he experienced with the Brewers resurfaced in 2024, however, as Arcia batted just .214/.263/.337 in 816 plate appearances between the Braves and Rockies from 2024-25. Overall, he’s a .239/.292/.369 hitter in 3537 big league plate appearances.
Arcia will get a chance to bounce back with the Twins after hitting .318/.376/.556 with eight homers, 10 doubles, a triple, three steals, an 8.5% walk rate and an 18.8% strikeout rate in 39 games (165 plate appearances) with the Saints to begin the year. He’s accrued well beyond eight years of big league service time, so even if Arcia does put together a rebound effort, he’ll be a free agent at season’s end.
Topa, 35, has spent parts of three seasons with the Twins after coming over from the Mariners alongside prospect Gabriel Gonzalez in the Jorge Polanco trade. He missed nearly all of the 2024 season following a spring knee injury but was a solid middle-relief presence in 2025, tossing 60 innings with a 3.90 ERA, an 18.3% strikeout rate, a 6.7% walk rate and a 47.7% ground-ball rate.
The 2026 season hasn’t been kind to Topa. He’s pitched 19 innings and served up 18 runs (17 earned) on 27 hits and 11 walks. He’s yielded four home runs, struck out only 13% of his opponents and walked 12% of them.
Earlier in his career, Topa was frequently injured but showed premium stuff when healthy, leading to plenty of “what if” speculation about a potentially high-end reliever who simply couldn’t stay healthy. He broke out with the 2023 Mariners, logging a 2.61 ERA, 21.9% strikeout rate, 6.5% walk rate and 56.7% grounder rate in what’s still a career-high 69 innings. The power sinker that Topa showed that season is down from an average of 95 mph to 93.2 mph in 2026, however. Topa isn’t missing bats anywhere close to a league-average level, and his command has worsened.
The Twins are paying Topa $1.225MM this season. Between that salary and his struggles, it’s likely that he’ll either clear outright waivers or be released, though the Twins can spend up to five days looking for a trade partner before going the waiver route.
