Minnesota Twins select shortstop Royce Lewis with first overall pick
The Minnesota Twins selected California high school shortstop Royce Lewis with the first overall pick of the MLB Draft.
It was seen as a three horse race for the first overall pick of the MLB Draft which was owned by the Minnesota Twins. Hunter Greene, Brendan McKay and Kyle Wright seemed to be the leaders in the clubhouse going into Monday night’s draft. The Twins went off the board.
With the first selection in the MLB Draft the Twins selected Royce Lewis. Lewis is a shortstop currently playing for Jserra Catholic High School in California.
The Minnesota Twins website supplied the world with a nice infographic on Lewis. A couple of things learned from the graphic is that this season was his first at shortstop whereas he played third base and center field in his freshmen through junior seasons. This season Lewis is hitting .388 with 25 stolen bases and four home runs. In 2016, Lewis hit .429 with nine stolen bases and four home runs.
Lewis was named the Gatorade California Player of the Year for 2017 and has a pair of showcase game MVPs to his name, too. The 6-1, 190 pound Californian just turned 18 on June 5.
With Lewis having experience at multiple positions, where might he play? Well, there’s conflicting reports.
Lewis is a shortstop right now and Jon Heymann says someone in the league thinks he could be the next Derek Jeter. Seriously.
One rival GM on Royce Lewis: "could be another jeter" #twins
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) June 12, 2017
LaVelle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune reports though that Lewis could be destined to be a centerfielder.
Dan O'Dowd just said what he told me on the phone Friday. That Lewis profiles better as a CF and his comp is George Springer.
— LaVelle E. Neal III (@LaVelleNeal) June 12, 2017
Either way, the Twins have always spoken highly of Lewis.
I said this a few times. Twins officials always spoke highly of him when I asked about him.
— LaVelle E. Neal III (@LaVelleNeal) June 12, 2017
I am not going to pretend to be a MLB Draft expert because I am far from that, but the pick is, to say the least, an interesting one.
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Lewis was highly ranked before the draft, but wasn’t linked to the Twins too much. With some good pitching prospects ranked highly, it was seen as the Twins would probably take an arm with the team’s current lack of pitching throughout the organization. The college arms could’ve been put on the fast track to get to the majors to help the major league team sooner than later.
Lewis’ position is also a little bit of a mystery. It looks like Lewis will either be a shortstop or a centerfielder and the Twins were currently thought to have some long term plans in those positions. Assuming the bat can get right, Byron Buxton should be the team’s centerfielder for the next decade plus. The Twins have a handful of shortstop options throughout the minors including 2014 first round pick Nick Gordon.
Baseball is all about having assets and it looks like Lewis is a nice asset to have. It just looks like the projection some had for the Twins roster in a few years might be a little different than initially thought.
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