MLB.com columnist Jim Callis said of this year's baseball draft: "No team made a better first impression" than the Twins.

He arrived at that conclusion not just by praising the surprising pick of Royce Lewis — which he did, calling the high school shortstop/outfielder "a better combination of hitting ability and tools than any player available" — but also by looking at the Twins' picks spread out over all the rounds.

Writes Callis: "Before this year, the last time the Twins owned the No. 1 overall pick in the draft was 2001. They hit it big with Joe Mauer, but got little else out of the 50 total rounds, save for a few decent seasons out of Nick Blackburn and cups of coffee from Jose Morales and Kevin Cameron. Minnesota has the potential for a much deeper haul this time around."

The Twins' strategy was to spread their bonus pool over many players, which it sounds like picking Lewis will enable them to do.

Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. michael.rand@startribune.com.