Twins sign number one draft pick Royce Lewis

The Twins signed first overall draft pick Royce Lewis today, making him officially part of the organization. It was super convenient too, since they held the press conference in between Game One and Game Two of today’s doubleheader, when all of the beat writers were already at the ballpark. Falvine thinks of everything!

According to Jon Heyman, the Twins signed the high school shortstop with a $6.7 million bonus, far below the $7.77 million cap they were allowed for the first overall pick in the 2017 MLB Draft. Saving that money allowed the Twins to draft Blayne Enlow with the first pick in the third round and sign him with a bonus of $2 million—more than the $1.2 million allowed for that slot. Enlow was projected by some to be a first round quality talent, but teams appear to have been scared off because they weren’t sure they could afford to sign him with their signing bonus pools. By signing Lewis below slot value and Enlow above slot value, the two deals essential equal themselves out.

The press conference was fairly short, but we did learn a few things about Lewis:

• Derek Falvey said they thought he was the top talent and top person available in the draft.
• Lewis is represented by mega-agent Scott Boras. Lewis’s dad approached Boras in a restaurant and said his son was pretty good at baseball, and asked if Boras could help.
• Lewis (as in, Royce) does not have social media. Like, at all.
• The first thing he noticed about Minnesota was how nice people are.
• He ate a Juicy Lucy (sorry Matt’s Bar and 5-8 Club—he went to The Nook).
• He thinks Minneapolis is pretty and clean.
• He’ll be reporting to the GCL in Ft. Myers.