Twins Reassign Dinged-Up Top Prospect Brooks Lee to Minors Camp

How did Brooks do hitting right handed? My guess is that his to-do list at St. Paul would include getting experience at second base and improve his numbers against left handers.

I want Brooks Lee to prove he can hit at the AAA level, and especially hit LHP before calling him up. The Twins saying nice things about him is good, but they're not going to throw a top prospect under the bus.

Lee isn't on the 40 man, and he won't be rule 5 eligible until after the 2025 season, and the Twins don't really have a good every day position for Lee to fill at the moment. The Twins appear committed to Julien at 2B for now, Correa at SS and Lewis at 3B.

Lee's lack of a good speed means he's probably a poor fit for an outfield position, and his history of being very weak from the right side of the plate means he's potentially a LHH platoon candidate like Julien, Wallner, and Kirilloff are already treated.

I'd rather Lee get experience and make adjustments at AAA rather than rushing him to MLB and endlessly tinkering with him in the big show like they did with Byron Buxton.

2 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Lee isn't on the 40 man, and he won't be rule 5 eligible until after the 2025 season, and the Twins don't really have a good every day position for Lee to fill at the moment. The Twins appear committed to Julien at 2B for now, Correa at SS and Lewis at 3B.

Lee's lack of a good speed means he's probably a poor fit for an outfield position, and his history of being very weak from the right side of the plate means he's potentially a LHH platoon candidate like Julien, Wallner, and Kirilloff are already treated.

As we are going to see with Carlos Santana, switch hitters aren’t as readily platooned. Also, from what I understand, Lee did well against lefties in ‘22, his first taste of professional baseball.

The Judge example shows the fallacy of using small sample sizes. I am not ready to give up on Lee as a good offensive player from both sides of the plate, but he has some proving to do. 

Seems like Lee is an injury replacement for Correa, Lewis, Julien, and Farmer. Love that flexibility!

20 hours ago, stringer bell said:

As we are going to see with Carlos Santana, switch hitters aren’t as readily platooned. Also, from what I understand, Lee did well against lefties in ‘22, his first taste of professional baseball.

The Judge example shows the fallacy of using small sample sizes. I am not ready to give up on Lee as a good offensive player from both sides of the plate, but he has some proving to do. 

The "switch hitters shouldn't be platooned" line of thinking Baldelli was talking about earlier this year seems like a poor take to me. Santana can't hit RHP at the MLB average level, and he's not providing any positive positional value as a 1B. I mean, I'm sure Julien could technically stand in the right handed batters box to qualify as a "switch hitter" but like Aaron Hicks, it doesn't mean it's going to produce good results from both sides, lol.

Brooks Lee's splits were -.257 OPS in 109 plate appearances while hitting as a RHB vs. LHB in 2023. As you noted, he hit lefties well in 2022 with +.117 OPS, but in a tiny 24 plate appearances. Also, the vast majority of Lee's plate appearances in 2022 came in low minors so I'm not sure I'd want to rely on them as much as looking at AA/AAA results like I did with Wallner.

The takeaway from Lee not making the team is probably this. He's going to get plate appearances, he's going to get the opportunity to prove himself, and the Twins are incredibly deep on valuable MLB caliber infielders so the upside Brooks Lee could bring over the guys we already have is probably very limited. We'll get our stats to review as the season goes on :)

1 hour ago, mrcharlie said:

Rocko's comment about his SS play is very telling when you consider all his starts at SS during Spring Training.  I don't believe he played else where...

The Twins obviously want to see Brooks Lee play at SS. He's not been scouted as a good runner, and sources like Fangraphs feel he's taken a step back in his range already. The question is whether or not Brooks Lee could possibly be an MLB-caliber SS as more than an emergency fill in. I think the Twins are pretty confident Lee's current range limits would be able to handle 3B, and his strong arm makes up for his expected lack of range at 2B.

If Correa were to go down, I expect Lewis, Farmer or Castro would be starting at SS with Austin Martin being called up. It'll take two IL-60 injuries before Brooks Lee gets a potential opportunity, IMHO. Even then, it's not guaranteed if the Twins are having Lee work on something at AAA because there's also Severino on the 40 man and Prato who the Twins aren't nearly as invested in.

1 hour ago, mrcharlie said:

Rocko's comment about his SS play is very telling when you consider all his starts at SS during Spring Training.  I don't believe he played else where.

If he is called up he will play fulltime and most likely at SS I believe.  It is unusual for a top prospect to get the call to be a utility player.  So where does that leave Correa?... injury, DHing or traded?  

I want to see how this unfolds.

Lee started at least two games at third base this spring.I believe that if Lewis had an IL injury, Lee would be promoted to take his place. He also played a few games at third in the minors last year. AFAIK he hasn't played second base in a professional ball game.

14 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

The "switch hitters shouldn't be platooned" line of thinking Baldelli was talking about earlier this year seems like a poor take to me. Santana can't hit RHP at the MLB average level, and he's not providing any positive positional value as a 1B. I mean, I'm sure Julien could technically stand in the right handed batters box to qualify as a "switch hitter" but like Aaron Hicks, it doesn't mean it's going to produce good results from both sides, lol.
 

Last season, Santana hit right handed pitching at exactly MLB average (100 OPS+). He's not helpless against right handers, but he isn't an asset (according to last year) and his platoon splits are far less pronounced than the three lefties (Kirilloff, Wallner, Julien) last year.

A lot of good switch hitters have their platoon split vary from year to year, others are always better on one side. Polanco had been consistently better against RH pitching until last year, when in a half season, he put up his best OPS+ versus lefties. Until proven otherwise, I would expect Lee to be marginally better against righties, but not a true platoon candidate.