Article: Twins Select Royce Lewis First Overall

[Jeremy Nygaard]

It's been a pretty shielded mystery since the moment draft talk started, but the answer to the question, 'Who goes 1-1?' has finally been answered.

 

Over the course of the last few months the focus has been primarily on four names: Hunter Greene, Kyle Wright, Brendan McKay and, most recently, Royce Lewis.

 

The Twins finally settled on their choice...California prep SS Royce Lewis.

 

Bet you didn't see that one coming a few days ago.

 

Represented by Scott Boras, Royce Lewis is a high-upside, middle-of-the-diamond player. He'll start his career at shortstop, but has the athleticism to play center field as well.

 

There are some questions about his hit tool and if power will develop. There are also some doubts that his arm can hold up on the left side of the infield. Those questions are pretty typical of prep position players. He'll have a few years to develop and answer those questions.

 

But there are no questions about his speed, his approach and how he's an elite athlete. The ceiling is amazingly high.

 

The big question is how taking Lewis will shape how the organization uses the rest of their draft pool. It was suggested to me that if Lewis didn't go first, he could tumble to seven... that might give the Twins an extra $1.75 million to play around with.

 

Get your popcorn. The rest of your night is going to be fun!

 

Click here to view the article

[magiklair]

Disappointed..

[darin617]

With Boras as his agent how does any team pull off getting a discount? Kind of disappointed that they didn't choose Brendan McKay and make him into 1st basemen of the future.

[twinssouth]

Shoot. Hoping for Greene. Hope he pans outby

[gagu]

This makes the rest of the night much more exciting. Can´t wait for the supp pick. Wow! A real roll of the dice here.

[bighat]

See you in 5 years, Royce.   We hope.

[twinssouth]

Greene went 2nd to the Reds. What a surprise

[MangLitch]

Ugh.. Greene will haunt us.

[Shane Wahl]

Rather taken aback.

[KirbyDome89]

I need to see what they do with that extra $$$ before passing too much judgement on the pick....relieved it wasn't McKay though

[T_J]

HS players go 1-3. Maybe other teams saw the same flaws in the NCAA players. 

[Mike Sixel]

Boras has already compared him to Kris Bryant and said he won't sign cheap.

 

Booooooooooo. Other than Castro, I can't think of one thing these guys have done I like.

[Thrylos]

Toolsy High School Shortstop or Outfielder.  Very different for the Twins to do something like this

 

I really hope that he can bring in a top pitcher in a trade as soon as he is tradeable.  

 

Still long ways, but I don't think that he will be the No 1 prospect in my Twins' prospect list.  This speaks tons about how I feel about this 1-1 pick.

[adorduan]

WTF, we need pitching........

[Dave The Dastardly]

I'm stunned. Shades of ignoring an immediate need for a long term project. Al la Vikings? Treadwell instead of an O-lineman?

 

Is there something in the Minnesota water?

[h2oface]

Wow. Falvey and Levine - soooo disappointed. Give them a team and the number one pick, and they take a # 7 or lower. No guts no glory. Who needs pitching anyway. Better to get a HIGH SCHOOL SHORTSTOP THAT HAS A NOODLE ARM and give him millions to play in the minors. I hate this.

[pierre75275]

I was hoping for Gore myself.

[gman]

Good pick. Scouting report shows him as the best position prospect in this years draft.Twins obviously need pitching, but I would rather have the every day player.

[Brandon]

This was supposed to be an opportunity to improve our pitching depth. Even with extra money for next pick we cant do as good as taking best pitcher available. Highly disappointing. But we do have a track record with toolsy OF...i mean SS for now...still very disappointing

[Jeremy Nygaard]

 

Pohlad's already EBT'd it back to their personal account.

 

That's not how this works. Whatever they save, they reinvest in later picks. It's essentially trading down four picks to move up from #35 to #15, assuming that Lewis comes with a discount.

[mlhouse]

Need to congratulate the guy who predicted this earlier.  I thought he was crazy.  

 

I can see passing on Hunter Greene if you want to take a more advanced college arm, start him in AA at the lowest and move him rapidly to the MLB level, even by the end of this season.  

 

I can even see passing on Greene and taking McKay and rushing him as a positon player to the major leagues.

 

But a HS SS/OF?   A guy that will start in Rookie + ball at the highest and is at least 4 years out?  

 

 

[Tuba]

Is this what social media would have looked like when the Twins passed on Prior in 2001?

[Doomtints]

Argh. He might be going to college. Potentially wasted pick.

[diehardtwinsfan]

yeah, not a fan... I wasn't a fan of Buxton though either, so what do I know. 

 

 

[Thrylos]

 

Other than Castro, no move has helped with that, imo.

 

Indeed.  Plus addition by subtraction of the guy who started the season with Arcia and Sano at the corner OF positions and Plouffe at 3B.

[jrod23]

Bleacher Report says McKay passed on an offer to be the number one overall pick.  Can't stand when players do this without playing a single professional inning.  If it's entitlement why he turned it down, shame on him.  If it's because we wanted him as a pitcher and he wanted to be 1B, then that's different.  I'm assuming he goes to E-Town to start and bringing him to Cedar Rapids by the end of the season.  That would put him two years behind Gordon.  Please tell me this isn't a justification to possibly trading Gordon.

[Hrbowski]

If they wanted to save money they should have selected Bukauskas.

[ShouldaCouldaWoulda]

Questions about his hit tool, power, and arm. So, speed gets him drafted #1?!? I'm hoping those questions on his tools end up wrong, but this seems awfully weird guy to draft at 1-1.

[caninatl04]

We're #7!!!!

 

Two drafts:  Rule 5 and this one.  In Rule 5, they traded down from 1 to 7 for nothing.  In this on, they draft BA's # 7 prospect.

 

Must be someone's lucky number.

 

Obviously, taken in isolation, this is a huge disappointment.  I thought the second half would be that Lewis settled for the least money among the top contenders.  But, when I heard Boras was the agent...

 

Wouldn't they have reached an agreement in principal BEFORE drafting this guy?

[Jeremy Nygaard]

The Twins have big plans for 35 and 37. Sent LEN3's tweet to one in the draft room and he text back.

 

"Boom. Just wait."

 

They've got something lined up and I have some pretty high hopes. 

 

Baz is my first choice. DL Hall and Carlson are 2A and 2B. I'd love Jennings, Rogers, and others as well.

 

Let's not judge the Lewis pick til all the dust settles.