The Twins Shouldn't Ask Brooks Lee to Save the Team's Offense

[Cody Christie]

The Twins' offense has sputtered through much of the 2023 campaign. Would the team's top prospect be able to add some life to the line-up?

Image courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

Entering the 2023 season, most national outlets ranked Brooks Lee as the top prospect in the Twins organization. In fact, he ranked in the 31-45 range among baseball's top 100 prospects. Minnesota drafted Lee with the eighth overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft. Some surprising picks earlier in the first round allowed Lee to fall to the Twins. His impact on the organization was immediately evident. 

Coming from the college ranks, the Twins had Lee get his first taste of professional baseball in the Florida Complex League. He only played four games at that level but went 6-for-17 (.353 BA) with two doubles. Minnesota had him skip Low-A and move directly to High-A. With Cedar Rapids, Lee hit .289/.395/.454 (.848) with four doubles and four home runs. The Twins promoted him to Double-A for Wichita's playoff run, and he helped the Wind Surge qualify for the Texas League Championship Series. It was a whirlwind professional debut, but Lee had solidified his top prospect status. 

Lee was a non-roster invitee to spring training this season, and the team gave him plenty of opportunities to play and showcase his talents for the big-league staff. He played in 14 games this spring and went 7-for-44 (.159 BA) with two doubles and a 15-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Even with those numbers, Lee was happy to be with the major leaguers and starting to build a relationship with some of the team's core players. "He had what I would call a near-perfect camp -- because nothing's ever perfect, but he did everything and showed us everything that we would be hoping to see from him," manager Rocco Baldelli said. "… I'll bet on the kid."

The Twins sent Lee back to Double-A to begin the 2023 season. In his first 27 games, he has hit .274/.333/.434 (.767) with 12 doubles and two home runs. Since the start of May, he has hit .243/.310/.378 (.688) while recently being named the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. His elite hit tool is starting to separate him from other prospects in the organization. He's also been facing older pitchers in all but four of his at-bats this season.   

Based on his strong start, some people have suggested that Lee might offer the Twins a solution to their offensive woes. However, he's played fewer than 40 games at Double-A and wasn't precisely destroying the ball versus big-league pitching in spring training. He may be able to move to Triple-A in the coming months, but there isn't a reason to rush him to the big leagues, even with Minnesota's struggles. 

Many players struggle in their first taste of the big leagues, including the organization's last four minor league players of the year (Alex Kirilloff, Trevor Larnach, Jose Miranda, and Matt Wallner). Edouard Julien is another prime example of a top prospect that struggled in his first taste of the majors. He destroyed the ball in spring training and the World Baseball Classic, but he went 6-for-27 (.222 BA) with nine strikeouts in his first eight MLB games. There are things for him to focus on at Triple-A, and hopes remain high that he can make a significant impact for the Twins this season. 

Lee has been joined in the Double-A line-up by Royce Lewis, the Twins' other top position player prospect. Lewis is rehabbing from his second ACL tear in as many seasons. Minnesota will have 20 days to evaluate Lewis before deciding whether or not to add him to the big-league roster or option him to Triple-A. He might be another candidate to help spark the Twins' offense, but he might have some rust to shake off before being an impact bat. 

The Twins hope Lee is part of the team's long-term core, but he should be looked at as something other than a savior to the team's line-up. For Minnesota to succeed, players like Carlos Correa, Byron Buxton, and Jorge Polanco must produce at a high level. Lee could supplement the line-up in the second half, but it's not the right time to push him to the MLB level. 

Do you think the Twins will call up Lee during the 2023 season? How much can a rookie impact the big-league roster? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion. 

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[Major League Ready]

Brooks Lee has a wRC+ of 97 at AA.  .267 / .328 / .422 is decent but also does not suggest he has conquered AA.  I think the calls for him to join the ML club are a bit premature.

 

[jkcarew]

If there is to be a ‘savior’ it probably comes from one (or two) of the following names…

Lewis, Larnach, Miranda/Farmer, Helman.

Helman a stretch, but if Lewis and Miranda, for whatever reasons, can’t factor in…a hot right-handed bat with a versatile defensive profile could really help.

Probably the most obvious candidate for savior would be for Correa to get hot…or even warm.

[rwilfong86]

Brooks Lee in the MLB this season would mean this season is a failure. 

[DocBauer]

Agree he is no savior and not yet ready. This time last year he was still in college. He's already at AA and looking good. There is no reason to rush him. It would a great season if he can finish the year at AAA and doing well. I've always thought, no matter how talented, no matter how much potential, he wouldn't be ready until 2024. And that is aggressive and just fine with me.

Any call for Lee to arrive earlier reminds me of Martin after a decent, but not great 2021. Some called for him to be up in 2022, which I never understood. Before this season even started, some were so excited about the potential of Rodriguez there was speculation he might fly through A+ and hit AA and finish the season at St Paul, potentially. He's awfully young, coming off a shortened 2022, and it would be awesome if he ends up raking and finishing strong at AA this year.

On top of simply getting carried away with prospect hope, Lee is, realistically, behind Lewis and Julien on the infield pecking order. Then, there is the hope for a return of Miranda after a re-set, while the solid Farmer is already back. Personally, I'm unusually high on the almost 27yo, late blooming Helman as a RH super utility player who might help in the future.

As jkcarew accurately stated, improvement for the offense is going to come from the players on hand...and it's not a bad group at all if they just get going...as well as the recently promoted Kirilloff, and the potential return of Larnach, Miranda, and hopefully Lewis.

 

[Woof Bronzer]

You don't have to call him up to be a savior.   Call him up to see if he makes it impossible to send him back down.  Not saying they absolutely must call him up, but I don't know, we also don't need to find reasons not to reward good performance.  Twins have to be open to doing new or different things - status quo aint exactly blowing anyone out of the water.

[tony&rodney]

Just my observation from watching the Wichita games on milb.com. Brooks Lee is not ready. He looks smooth at shortstop, so fielding is not a problem. Lee is swinging better versus fastballs. He has had some struggles against breaking balls and pitchers attack him. There isn't any reason to have Lee face MLB pitchers at this point.

The guys who look the best at the minor league level are Julien, Larnach, and Helman. A host of others are having good days, but those three stand out.

[Jocko87]

37 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

You don't have to call him up to be a savior.   Call him up to see if he makes it impossible to send him back down.  Not saying they absolutely must call him up, but I don't know, we also don't need to find reasons not to reward good performance.  Twins have to be open to doing new or different things - status quo aint exactly blowing anyone out of the water.

This is the way. He's got some growing to do but certainly isn't overwhelmed at Wichita. If he can adapt as fast as he did last year he will be a September option for sure.  I wouldn't even be disappointed if we didn't see him in September.

Strange that this is even a discussion at this point, he isn't even on the 40 man. Who are we removing to make room?

We still have AK, Lewis, Waller, Julien, reborn Larnach and Miranda, new hotness Helman and a dash of Garlick to burn through as saviors long before we get to Lee.

Honestly, I'm not sure this was worth an article. I know we've seen some of these comments in threads but I've been managing to ignore them just fine.

[Whitey333]

Strange team this Twins team.  For many years we had good hitting but not so great pitching.  Not we have very good starting pitching but can't hit in the clutch or much at all.  Bringing Lee up now would probably do more harm than good.for.him. We however should not be afraid about who we would remove from the 40 man roster.  There's plenty of candidates.  Correa and Buxton should quit shrugging their shoulders and saying that's baseball.  Buxton In an 0 for 25 slump should be making plans for improving, not making excuses.

[Doctor Wu]

Brooks Lee is looking like a definite keeper, but as others have said, no need to rush him to the big show just yet. A few more months on the farm at least, and then maybe a late season callup. But as for being a savior ... I don't see him as that big of a difference maker. Good player, maybe even an all-star at some point, but that's a few years down the road. 

[DJL44]

I would not call up Lee unless he forces the issue and he hasn't so far. I'd rather keep him off the 40 man roster this winter.

[Otaknam]

There is no reason the call up Lee unless he hits his way to AAA, and then keeps on hitting there. Lewis is more likely to be called up if he has a solid 20 game rehab stint. And he may be their third baseman of the future, given the defensive struggles Miranda has had a third. Lewis is an elite athlete and should be able to handle third base. 

Edited May 13, 2023 by Otaknam

[Nashvilletwin]

I’d love to see a list of the position players this FO and coaching staff have developed into legit major leaguers reaching their potential.

At the moment we have at least twelve really, really good young players/prospects: Lewis, Lee, Julien, Larnach, Kiriloff, Miranda, Wallner, Gordon, Jeffers, Rodriguez, Martin, Miller and plus probably a handful of others.  Coupled with Buxton, Correa, Vasquez and an additional player or two, that’s more than enough talent to comprise a solid multi year contending core.

This FO and coaching staff need to be held accountable for how these players develop into their best versions over the next 12-18 months.

The state of our relief pitching means that this team will unlikely be in a position to truly contend this season. Soon it will be time to start investing in the future. 

[FlyingFinn]

43 minutes ago, Nashvilletwin said:

The state of our relief pitching means that this team will unlikely be in a position to truly contend this season.

Relief pitchers are the easiest to get at the trade deadline and I predict that is the one and only area the Twins focus on, maybe getting two relief pitchers.

[Nashvilletwin]

14 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

Relief pitchers are the easiest to get at the trade deadline and I predict that is the one and only area the Twins focus on, maybe getting two relief pitchers.

Ok, as long as it’s Kepler, Gallo, Castro, Solano, maybe Polanco etc. that get moved. As things currently stand, we don’t need to panic on trading our young top talent for this year’s club. 

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Pretty sure there is a song about Lee...

by Tenacious D...

what at least adequately expresses my excitement.

Which is to say i am patient to see him in the majors, but don't mind if the don't test it. If Flight of the Conchords had written a song about Lee, i probably wouldn't be patient.

 

But (relatively minor) mature content warnings keep me from tracking down the youtubes and posting it.

 

 

[Tibs]

Just no way anyone is asking for this

[TwinsDr2021]

💯agree he needs to be stay in the minors and develop and improve, keeping guys in the minors until late age 23 early 24 or later as worked amazing well so far all the other prospects, I mean they are filling in the holes and succeeding on the major league level right? I am mean look at all the names on the Twins roster that this FO has developed, too many to list or maybe not enough to list, not sure.

I am not saying he should be called up, by why not call him up stick him at third for a couple of weeks and see how it goes, he may never see the minors again or he may need more time back in the minors to learn a few things. But the one thing he won't be is a savior and that shouldn't be expected, but now is the perfect time, Miranda is back in the minors Lewis isn't ready yet. There is plenty of trash on the 40 man so I am not worried about.

Just an FYI there are more guys in the majors that are younger than him, then there are guys on the Twins this FO has drafted and it isn't even close.

[Riverbrian]

18 hours ago, Cody Christie said:

Many players struggle in their first taste of the big leagues, including the organization's last four minor league players of the year (Alex Kirilloff, Trevor Larnach, Jose Miranda, and Matt Wallner). Edouard Julien is another prime example of a top prospect that struggled in his first taste of the majors. He destroyed the ball in spring training and the World Baseball Classic, but he went 6-for-27 (.222 BA) with nine strikeouts in his first eight MLB games.

Many veterans struggle in their 87th taste of the big leagues as evidenced by our current offensive predicament. 

Julien had 27 AB's. His OPS during that small sample currently ranks 6th on the club. If that is a first taste struggle... OK... let's say it is. What term are we going to do use for the larger sample struggles from our vets that are worse than that. Are his first 27 AB's an indication on where he would be if he had 130 AB's like Correa and Miranda have received?  

While I agree that it is probably too soon and too much to ask Brooks Lee to rise up and lead us where we need to be. We need someone to come from somewhere and we are not in the position to write off help from AAA. 

Rookies can also do alright for a stretch, even if they came down to earth later. We were just beaten by two of them with the Cubs last night. The Cubs didn't seem to have a problem moving a decently paid vet like Hosmer out of the way for one of them and Hosmer's 2023 numbers look a lot like our entire big league team. Who knows if they have staying power but some of them have helping right now power even if it's just a little bit of help.   

 

[Jocko87]

18 minutes ago, Tibs said:

Just no way anyone is asking for this

Unfortunately its being mentioned far too often.

I think I just hit on another factor that will explain all of this.  The new CBA has changed the service time equation dramatically.  The Mariners are getting the 29th overall pick this year as compensation for Julio Rodriguez winning the ROY under the new  Prospect Promotion Incentive Pick structure.  Its explained in the article linked but long story short, they must be true rookies (under 60 days) and be on the roster 172 or more days in that year.  Its why so many top young players broke camp or were called early so they can qualify.  With this system in place, any team that brings up a top 100 prospect mid-season is either crazy or desperate.  The Braves lost out with Micheal Harris as he didn't have enough time to qualify.  Had they brought him up 6 weeks earlier they get a late first round pick.

With this info I will take any and all odds on a Lee sighting before September.  Zero chance he gets more than 60 days this year but a pretty good chance of breaking camp next year.   Ready has little or nothing to do with it.

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/mlb-prospect-promotion-incentive-rookie-year-cba/ja5ts8eaxcuv85xujnzriafb

[Linus]

6 hours ago, Tibs said:

Just no way anyone is asking for this

I’ll take it a step further. Anybody asking for this doesn’t know baseball. The article was a waste of digital ink. 

[Brandon]

Killeroff and maybe Lewis are supposed to be this years savior.  Lee is next years savior.  We can't call on all our saviors in one year.  We won't have any for next year if we do that.

 

[twinstalker]

Why would Lee be able to help the Twins?  I don't understand.  He's not really helping Wichita that much.  He's never shown he's anywhere close to being more than decent at the AA level.  He catches a bad pitcher every once in a while.

On that last point, he'd fit in with the Twins lineup well.  Over the years, they've hit mediocrity well and have shown near zero aptitude vs top pitching, the type you'd expect to see in the playoffs.