The Case for Moving Brooks Lee to First Base (For Now)

[RpR]

13 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Actually, that is just the beginning of the story. Literally, Brooks Lee has only been in AAA for a little while. Nobody in baseball is making judgments that quickly, which is why a player who enters a level red hot doesn't get immediately sent up. There are so many facets to playing baseball and learning the adjustments at each level. Lee will be fine.

I'm not thinking that the Twins will turn to Lee at any point in 2023, but he is an enticing study of a quick learner.

Also, I'm with Washington that first base is not an easy position to play well. Mauer is an exceptional athlete, but the other guys have only been playing first base out of necessity. When is Alex Kirilloff going to heal? Of the other options, I'm wondering if Jorge Polanco would be adequate at first base.

He said immediate and permanent ; down the road, the Minor league coaches will play and see where he is comfortable and where he only does it because they asked him to.

At First Base, size is an advantage, though some smaller dudes have not been lost there, I do not know how tall Lee is, but Gallo's size is one reason he does well at First.

Future top rank player, could very well be, time and coaching will tell.

 

[DJL44]

2 hours ago, saviking said:

So basically you have a race between Lee mastering AAA pitchers or Krilloff coming off the injured list. 

I think switch hitting is going to slow down that race for Lee. Ideally you'd want him to have 100 PA against lefties at AAA before he gets promoted. They should be preparing him for a full-time position, not a platoon role.

[P Meyer]

Yeah...it's tough to see a scenario where it would be in the best interest of a team, in a pennant race or playoffs, to call up a player from AAA who has been there for a couple weeks and have him play a position he has never played or only played for a couple weeks. 

 

Long term, I would still disagree but it could be worth a conversation.

[Mike Sixel]

20 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

I think switch hitting is going to slow down that race for Lee. Ideally you'd want him to have 100 PA against lefties at AAA before he gets promoted. They should be preparing him for a full-time position, not a platoon role.

100 PA against lefties? Taht could take a year....a full year. Maybe more. 

[DJL44]

8 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

100 PA against lefties? That could take a year....a full year. Maybe more. 

Based on his AA numbers he needs more reps before he's ready to contribute at the MLB level from that side of the plate. There is no sense promoting him if any lefty reliever is going to be able to get him out. They should have learned from Aaron Hicks that switch hitters take longer to develop.

[Mike Sixel]

Just now, DJL44 said:

Based on his AA numbers he needs more reps before he's ready to contribute at the MLB level from that side of the plate. There is no sense promoting him if any lefty reliever is going to be able to get him out. They should have learned from Aaron Hicks that switch hitters take longer to develop.

What's your point? That he needs 100 PA against lefiies in AAA? That could take a year. What a waste that would be. 

[Larry Janisewski]

With  the overabundance outfielders why not move Kepler to 1st base? He has played the position in the past in the minors and majors although not in the past few years.

[USNMCPO]

15 hours ago, darin617 said:

Nobody can actually think the Twins have a good enough team to even get out of the first round. And to be honest, the Twins still have win the division before we get to that point

I don't necessarily disagree with this statement. However, I am old enough to remember a certain team in 1987 that wasn't good enough either. The team has hitters that have under achieved for the year. That does not mean they are unable to regain their form. This team has two starting pitchers who can put the team win their back along with another that is lights out right now. I know I am being too optimistic right now but stuff can happen. 

[Minny505]

15 hours ago, glunn said:

The OP made it clear that this makes sense only if Lee starts hitting better in AAA.

 

 

How did you quote the OP? I know you can make a quote box, but I've never seen the OP quoted the way you did it.

[DJL44]

30 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

What's your point? That he needs 100 PA against lefiies in AAA? That could take a year. What a waste that would be. 

I think it would be a waste to use his service time before he's ready to contribute in the big leagues.

[chpettit19]

10 hours ago, Doctor Wu said:

An intriguing idea, but I don't see that happening this year. Then again, ask me again a month from now after Lee has settled in at AAA. We all know that Brooks Lee has very good hitting tools, but what is the consensus about him as a fielder? Will he be gold glove caliber at any position? Like others, I don't see him sticking at shortstop, and many think third base is his eventual spot. But you know, to me he LOOKS like a first baseman, and I think he could adapt to that position, so the idea of moving him there in the not-too-distant future isn't such a crazy idea. 

I saw him in St Paul a couple times this last weekend, and his glove work is quite good. He has the arm and glove to play SS, but his range will be the question. 3B sounds like the natural next move for him, and he should be great there. He's smooth and has really good hands. I wouldn't even think about moving him to 1B. He'll have a few hiccups, and he's not Correa, but I'd take his glove over Lewis' right now.

[chpettit19]

3 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Based on his AA numbers he needs more reps before he's ready to contribute at the MLB level from that side of the plate. There is no sense promoting him if any lefty reliever is going to be able to get him out. They should have learned from Aaron Hicks that switch hitters take longer to develop.

 

2 hours ago, DJL44 said:

I think it would be a waste to use his service time before he's ready to contribute in the big leagues.

Batters face about 25% lefties in the bigs. How long are you willing to hold him in AAA if his bat against righties is ready? Would you make this argument for Julien? His minor league numbers also show he isn't ready to hit major league lefties. Does being a switch hitter change the math there? It's all a fine line, but if his left handed swing (the one he'll use 75% of the time) is ready for opening day next year how long would you keep him in AAA waiting on the right handed swing to be ready? All year? Half the year?

[glunn]

5 hours ago, Minny505 said:

How did you quote the OP? I know you can make a quote box, but I've never seen the OP quoted the way you did it.

I highlighted what I wanted to quote because I planned to copy and paste, but then a quote option appeared so I used that.  🙂

[USAFChief]

Boy, I strongly doubt Brooks Lee plays MLB baseball this year.

I even more strongly doubt if he does, it'd be at 1st base.

 

[Minny505]

1 minute ago, glunn said:

I highlighted what I wanted to quote because I planned to copy and paste, but then a quote option appeared so I used that.  🙂

I guess I'll hope for a quote option when I highlight in the future. 

In case it matters, what browser are you using?

[glunn]

2 hours ago, Minny505 said:

I guess I'll hope for a quote option when I highlight in the future. 

In case it matters, what browser are you using?

Chrome.

[DJL44]

16 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

Batters face about 25% lefties in the bigs. How long are you willing to hold him in AAA if his bat against righties is ready? Would you make this argument for Julien? His minor league numbers also show he isn't ready to hit major league lefties. Does being a switch hitter change the math there? It's all a fine line, but if his left handed swing (the one he'll use 75% of the time) is ready for opening day next year how long would you keep him in AAA waiting on the right handed swing to be ready? All year? Half the year?

I know I wouldn't bench Lee against lefties. I'd have to be willing to take those lumps because his production against RH pitching was good enough to let him learn how to hit lefties at the MLB level. Being a switch hitter does change things; it requires more development time if you actually want to develop the hitter from both sides of the plate. Julien's swing doesn't change with a different pitcher on the mound.

[chpettit19]

39 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

I know I wouldn't bench Lee against lefties. I'd have to be willing to take those lumps because his production against RH pitching was good enough to let him learn how to hit lefties at the MLB level. Being a switch hitter does change things; it requires more development time if you actually want to develop the hitter from both sides of the plate. Julien's swing doesn't change with a different pitcher on the mound.

I wouldn't bench him against lefties either. I wouldn't bench any young hitter against same handed pitchers because they can't learn to hit them if they aren't facing them. But my read on your comments was that you wouldn't call him up until his right handed swing was ready as well. "There is no sense promoting him if any lefty reliever is going to be able to get him out." is an interesting sentence to me. That's why I brought up Julien. "Any lefty reliever" is able to get him out so I'm curious if you think he should still be in AAA. Developing and maintaining 2 swings is definitely an added factor, but the core of the statement is simply that lefties could get him out so don't call him up.

And I don't agree that it automatically requires more development time if you're a switch hitter. He's taking BP and working on both swings everyday. He's getting fewer in game ABs against lefties, but that's true of every hitter. The time frame can most certainly be the same as a non-switch hitter. Aaron Hicks isn't even a very good example of this since his right handed swing, the one he used far less in games, was the one that he was good at early. It was his ABs against righties that needed work. So game reps weren't the problem. I mean if we're just pulling 1 player examples I can easily throw out Chipper Jones as someone who debuted at 21, and was 2nd in ROY voting at 23 (they had no season in his age 22 year) as a switch hitter with no platoon split problems. Mark Teixeira debuted at 23 and had some platoon splits, but his "bad side" (hitting lefty) was still a .757 OPS that year. He was drafted out of college in 2001 and debuted in 2003. Much like what we're talking about for Lee. 

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, chpettit19 said:

That's why I brought up Julien. "Any lefty reliever" is able to get him out so I'm curious if you think he should still be in AAA.

The Twins are prioritizing the division win over Julien's development at the moment. I wouldn't be surprised if Julien had to go back to AAA to work on things as the scouts find holes in his offensive game. Lots of players have had that happen to them.

[laloesch]

On 8/14/2023 at 10:03 PM, RpR said:

"It bears repeating: Lee has not exactly gotten off to a hot start in Triple-A. Through eight games he is 7-for-33 (.212) with one extra-base hit, one walk, and six strikeouts."

End of story.

I'm not surprised considering how far he's come in so short of period of time he was eventually gonna hit a wall.  I think how he does down the stretch here and into early 2024 will be telling.

[chpettit19]

38 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

The Twins are prioritizing the division win over Julien's development at the moment. I wouldn't be surprised if Julien had to go back to AAA to work on things as the scouts find holes in his offensive game. Lots of players have had that happen to them.

For sure, many guys need to get a reset, and it's ok if Julien does, too. But that's very different than not calling them up in the first place.

[Mike Sixel]

14 minutes ago, laloesch said:

I'm not surprised considering how far he's come in so short of period of time he was eventually gonna hit a wall.  I think how he does down the stretch here and into early 2024 will be telling.

I'd hardly call 8 games any indication of anything at all.....so I'm not sure he hit a wall or not.

[TNtwins85]

My only 2 questions to all this is (A). Has Wallner had any work at 1B? He seems to check all the boxes for a first baseman. Big, athletic, smart and willing to learn. This one puzzles me more than Julien to 1B. (B). Has Lee had any work in the OF? This puzzles me as well as we have the IF covered unless Lee is the next coming of Scott Rolen, Ozzie Smith or Roberto Alomar. I think he would make a Nice LFer and then find him a permanent spot in 2025. I don’t think he’s coming up this year at all but I’m interested what happens this offseason.

[TNtwins85]

On 8/16/2023 at 12:41 PM, chpettit19 said:

For sure, many guys need to get a reset, and it's ok if Julien does, too. But that's very different than not calling them up in the first place.

He’s started to clobber the ball again the last few games after a short lull the last week or so.

[chpettit19]

2 hours ago, TNtwins85 said:

He’s started to clobber the ball again the last few games after a short lull the last week or so.

I wasn't predicting anything, just stating that if he needs a reset at some point early in his MLB career it's not the end of the world.

[TNtwins85]

19 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

I wasn't predicting anything, just stating that if he needs a reset at some point early in his MLB career it's not the end of the world.

No disagreement. He seems good to go at this moment though. I think he’s about to go on another tear!