Article: Royce Lewis Has Heart, Confidence And A Lot Of Talent

[Seth Stohs]

As news (or rumors) trickled in that the Minnesota Twins would select high school shortstop Royce Lewis with the first overall pick in the 2017 draft, it was met with some surprise.

 

Lewis said, 'I had nothing going in at all in mind. I just know that the draft is crazy, and looking back at years past, it's been hectic and you never know what's going to happen.'

 

However, he wasn't all that surprised. 'For me, I wasn't caught off guard as much, but I am very excited and very appreciative of the opportunity.'While Lewis isn't the household name that Hunter Greene, Brendan McKay and Kyle Wright were to most fans, he has been a huge prospect for quite some time. He has played with Hunter Greene, as he noted, on USA teams 15U and 18U tournaments.

 

In fact, earlier in the day, Lewis called Greene (who went second to the Reds) and Jordan Adell (who went 10th to the Angels) to wish them luck.

 

Lewis is a bright young man. He graduated a couple of weeks ago and acknowledged that he gets 'A's and B's."

 

He's a very confident kid.

 

When asked if he emulated or patterned his game around any players, he named some pretty impressive shortstops.

 

"For sure, I had a couple. Carlos Correa is one. Derek Jeter and Francisco Lindor. If you put those three guys together, I feel like you'd get a mixture of Royce Lewis." He continued, "But I know that I'm a very different player than all those guys, and I expect to play differently and act differently than those guys."

 

I remember sitting at the Cedar Rapids Kernels press conference before their first game as a Twins affiliate in 2013. Byron Buxton was asked about his weaknesses. He sat and thought, and thought. A bit later, Travis Harrison responded, "He does a lot of things really well."

 

Likewise, Royce Lewis does a lot of things well. He's got tremendous speed, and should develop some power as well.

 

Asked about his weaknesses, Lewis said, "As far as weaknesses go, I feel like I don't have any at this point."

 

Honesty. But he did add more to the comment.

 

"It's just about perfecting. Of course, every kid thinks highly of himself."

 

Speed is probably his biggest tool at this point. "Speed can be used for everything. Defensively. Offensively. It helps with range. It helps you get a couple of extra base hits when you hit if off the end of the bat. Speeds been there since Day 1. That's my favorite tool because it's always there and it never leaves you."

 

Asked about his power potential, he said, "That's kind of like a little tidbit. I haven't even grown into my man strength yet. I just turned 18 last week. Being young like this, it's pretty amazing to know that I still have a lot of potential to tap into.

 

He has a lot of heart. His first comments to the media involved his goal being for his team to win. They came up just short in their season-ending tournament, but winning is a big part of his game. "As Draymond Green says, 'Heart wins over anything.' At the end of the day, I feel like I have more heart than many of the kids and players out there."

 

Lewis also talked about his mental approach of the game. "I'm looking at four to five plays ahead. The approach at the plate is changing pitch to pitch. For me, it's maturity. My mom says it a lot, I'm a lot older than most kids."

 

And Lewis is also a leader: "Treating everyone equally. We're all equal, no matter who is better at what sport, or who is the smarter kid in the classroom. As a leader, I try to treat everyone equal. I'm not above or below anyone. We have a lot of fun. For me, I try to lead by example. With all my teammates, we have so much fun together. We compete hard together, and I can't wait to meet my new teammates in Minnesota.

 

Lewis has never been to Minnesota and says, "I hear it's pretty cold, sometimes. We'll see when I get there. I can handle the weather no matter what."

 

Lewis has a commitment to UC-Irvine, a school and coaching staff that was impressive to him. When asked if college was out of the question, he responded by saying, "No, not at all. I mean, I don't know what's going to go on. I'm just going to let Mr. Boras and the guys up in Minnesota handle that. We'll see what happens. I do know that I'm locked in either way. It's a win-win for me, so I'm happy."

 

One Twins employee told me recently (about Lewis), "His makeup is everything a fan base could wish for out of their franchise talent."

 

Royce Lewis is immensely athletic, a trait the Twins have had tremendous success with developing. He's got room to grow, but he also has some of those intangibles that can't be measured. In other words, he's the complete package.

Next steps? Get him signed and let him start the long process toward the big leagues.

 

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[Deduno Abides]

Sounds like he wishes we could all have whirled peas.

[magiklair]

It's weird or ego when people talk in the third person.

 

"For sure, I had a couple. Carlos Correa is one. Derek Jeter and Francisco Lindor. If you put those three guys together, I feel like you'd get a mixture of Royce Lewis."

[jimbo92107]

Dibs on "Royce Rolls" puns! Sounds like a kid that knows how to enjoy himself. 

[jun]

Royce Lewis sounds like Buxton with a weak arm.

[Brian]

 

"His makeup is everything a fan base could wish for out of their franchise talent."

 

This write up reminds me of that quote last year from Pohlad that the most important trait to have in his new GM is being nice or whatever he said. Looks like it's also the most important quality in a 1.1     

Edited June 13, 2017 by Brian

[jun]

Quote:

”Royce Lewis is immensely athletic, a trait the Twins have had tremendous success with developing.

 

That reminds me of BUXTON.

Buxton at least has a better arm.

[Deduno Abides]

Quote:”Royce Lewis is immensely athletic, a trait the Twins have had tremendous success with developing.That reminds me of BUXTON.Buxton at least has a better arm.

 

Reminds me of B.J. Garbe.

[wavedog]

BJ Garbe came to my mind as well.

[Seth Stohs]

Why would BJ Garbe come to mind when talking about Royce Lewis?? 

 

I'm good with the Buxton without quite the arm comments, but the Garbe ones just make no sense.

 

Other than just an attempt to be negative... which is fun... I guess.

[David HK]

This is one kid I did not know much about going in.  Didn't even have a picture of him in my mind, but now....

 

Geez, did they clone Derek Jeter?

[wavedog]

 

Why would BJ Garbe come to mind when talking about Royce Lewis?? 

 

I'm good with the Buxton without quite the arm comments, but the Garbe ones just make no sense.

 

Other than just an attempt to be negative... which is fun... I guess.

BJ Garbe came to my mind because he was a top 5 HS pick for the Twins as well back in 1999 and the scouting reports stated that he was a 5-tool player.   Not saying they will turn out the same or that they are the same type of player.  

 

Found an interesting article from 2009 on Garbe and the Washington area draft class of 1999.  

 

http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/remembering-washingtons-great-baseball-draft-class-of-1999/ 

 

Below is an excerpt from the article:  

Garbe’s story is the classic tale of a can’t-miss prospect who did. While Justin Morneau, taken in the third round of the same 1999 draft by Minnesota, is a superstar in the second year of a six-year, $80 million contract, Garbe’s life is consumed by running Kegler’s Casino and the Wild Card Sports Bar and Grill in East Wenatchee.

And loving every minute of it. “It’s kind of hard to say this, but I’m probably more happy doing this than I’ve been in a long time,” he said. “I’ll always miss baseball, but I’m extremely content right now.”

 

Pro baseball was an ordeal almost from the start for Garbe, who as a senior at Moses Lake was named the Gatorade national player of the year. For one thing, he was diagnosed with night blindness, which can be a problem in a sport in which 80 to 90 percent of the games are at night.

“It played a part, definitely,” he said. “In day games, my average was 80 points higher than at night. Was that the deciding factor? I don’t think so.”

The Twins tried to change his batting stroke, and he never adjusted. Mostly, Garbe said, he didn’t like the fact that baseball had become a business.

“I never liked that about professional baseball,” he said. “The game just changed. I lost a lot of passion for it over the years that I played.”

The Twins finally cut Garbe after the 2004 season. He hooked up with the Mariners’ organization in 2005, hitting .275 in Class A ball, and began the 2006 season in AA with the Marlins. Struggling with a .184 average in May, he quit for good.

[luckylager]

 

BJ Garbe came to my mind because he was a top 5 HS pick for the Twins as well back in 1999 and the scouting reports stated that he was a 5-tool player.   Not saying they will turn out the same or that they are the same type of player.  

 

So aside from being a toolsy top-five pick, what does this have to do with Lewis? 

 

[Deduno Abides]

Why would BJ Garbe come to mind when talking about Royce Lewis??

 

I'm good with the Buxton without quite the arm comments, but the Garbe ones just make no sense.

 

Other than just an attempt to be negative... which is fun... I guess.

Seth,

 

Thanks again for everything you do. You provide a lot of great information. On many days over the past few years, reading your stuff has been the highlight of being a Twins fan.

 

Regarding your question, I have no idea whether Lewis will prove to be a great pick or a huge mistake. Saying that his value is because of his athleticism, however, is similar to the reasoning for drafting Garbe. It's not appropriate to dismiss the comment as just being negative. Further, I would disagree that the Twins have had "tremendous success" developing extremely athletic players. Who in particular fits that bill? If the answer is Buxton, his current performance doesn't match what most people would consider "tremendous success" for a #2 pick. Beyond Buxton, who are the "immensely athletic" players that have been developed successfully by the Twins? Niko Goodrum? Danny Santana? Tanner English? Kohl Stewart? Aaron Hicks?

Edited June 13, 2017 by Deduno Abides

[Seth Stohs]

Falvey says he was #1 on their board... 

 

 

 

[Brian]

If that's the case, a discount seems unlikely. 

[Willihammer]

Seems likely their board was 1-2 Lewis and McKay, with the scouts preferring Lewis and analytics preferring McKay. I think their price point with McKay was probably lower because of the pitching risk.

 

Buxton seems like a good comp for Lewis as he's a toolsy centerfielder with 70/80 speed. Both guys had underwhelming high school stats; with the bats "projected" to develop.

 

But there are two advantages to taking Lewis IMO.

One is he is nearly a half-year younger than Buxton was when he was drafted. Research suggests this extreme youth at draft time among HS bats is a fairly large market inefficiency.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=15295

 

Secondly, by passing on McKay the Twins undercut the possibility that the Rays, with the third biggest bonus pool, would reach for Bubba Thompson as BA believed they'd do. That would have given the Rays significant savings going into day 2. Instead, the Twins go into day two with a significant advantage in spending power.

Edited June 13, 2017 by Willihammer