MLB scout: Twins' Royce Lewis is 'Derek Jeter incarnate'
Only a select few have been likened to Derek Jeter on a baseball field, the most recent of whom is the No. 1 pick from last year's MLB Draft, Royce Lewis.
"It's becoming clearer why the Minnesota Twins made shortstop Royce Lewis last year's surprise No. 1 pick over pitcher Hunter Greene," said Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal on Saturday.
"One scout who saw Lewis recently at Class A offered him the highest of praise, calling him 'Derek Jeter incarnate.' The scout said Lewis needs to learn that internal clock all the great ones have, but once that happens, the scout believes Lewis stands the chance of becoming elite."
Has baseball found the next Derek Jeter?@Ken_Rosenthal explains pic.twitter.com/q3XjCwNDJI
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) June 2, 2018
Lewis, drafted out of his California high school ahead of Greene, Brendan McKay, a pair of players who can hit and pitch. Entering play Sunday, Lewis was hitting .299 with three homers, 26 RBI and 15 stolen bases in 16 attempts at low-Class A Cedar Rapids.
Jeter was selected sixth overall by the Yankees in 1992. He made his MLB debut three years later and went on to collect 3,465 hits en route to 14 All-Star appearances in 20 seasons.
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McKay has struggled with his bat since being drafted, but on the mound he's been really good, with a 1.51 ERA and 59 strikeouts in 41 2/3 innings.
Greene has a 7.18 ERA in nine starts but has racked up 36 strikeouts in 26 1/3 innings.
Lewis and Greene and still just 18 years old while McKay is 22.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.