With No. 1 pick, Twins draft Calif. prep shortstop
SECAUCUS, N.J. — The Minnesota Twins think they’ve got their shortstop of the future in the speedy and slick-fielding Royce Lewis.
The California high school star was taken with the No. 1 pick in the Major League Baseball draft Monday night. It was the third time the Twins were up first — the last time was 2001, when they grabbed hometown high school catcher Joe Mauer with the top choice.
“My body just went numb,” Lewis said during an interview with MLB Network. “It was an unbelievable feeling.”
Lewis played both shortstop and outfield in high school. But the Twins, who lead the AL Central after going 59-103 last year, classified him as a shortstop when Commissioner Rob Manfred made the announcement at MLB Network studios.
The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Lewis hit .377 with four homers and 25 stolen bases for JSerra Catholic High School, establishing himself as a top prospect with excellent speed and a solid bat.
“He’s got that ‘it’ factor that a No. 1 pick needs to survive and move forward and have success at the end of the journey,” said Mike Radcliff, the Twins’ vice president for player personnel. “He checked all the boxes for us.”
The 18-year-old Lewis was a standout on USA Baseball’s gold medal-winning Under-18 team at the Pan American Championships last year and was selected as this year’s National High School Coaches Association’s high school senior baseball athlete of the year.
“We know he’s going to be a leader the second he steps on the field,” Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey said. “We’ll let the baseball play take care of itself.”
With the second pick, Cincinnati took California high school right-hander Hunter Greene, one of the top two-way talents in a draft stocked with them.
Greene, chosen as a pitcher, also played shortstop at Notre Dame High School, but a fastball that can reach 100 mph has the Reds projecting him as a future ace. Greene, featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated this season, was the first of four prospects in attendance at the draft site to be selected.
He was asked to give a scouting report on himself as a pitcher.
“Man, I’m a monster,” he said, chuckling. “I’m different on the field than I am off the field. I’m just going to go out there and compete and challenge and pound the zone and go after guys like I know I can and like everybody else knows I can.”
And while the Reds drafted him as a pitcher, Greene sounded as though he still might have designs on playing the infield, too.
“I don’t even know yet,” he said, wearing a Cincinnati cap and jersey. “I still love doing both and I think the ballclub is excited for getting two players for one. So I think they’re pretty pumped up for that, so we’ll see how it works out.”
Falvey said the Twins’ choice came down to the waning minutes and the decision to pass on Greene was “really tough.”
“We felt Royce separated himself from those other guys just a bit, and we feel like he’s somebody that we’ll build around for the future,” Falvey said.
At No. 3, San Diego selected North Carolina prep left-hander MacKenzie Gore, marking the first time since 1990 that the top three picks were all high school players.
