Three Seasons In, I Still Have No Idea What to Make of Brooks Lee

Let’s give Lee credit for incremental improvement though it has been a bit painful the past years having that development happen at the mlb level.  The Twins probably pencil Lee into third base next year.  He is satisfactory at that position.  The Twins need to figure out a lot of other needs that are not satisfactory.
 

However, there are options that may not fall off much and have an higher ceiling.  Assumption that Culpepper eventually moves off short for Marek Houston.  I hear 2B for Culpepper but he had a couple seasons at 3B in college.  Ben Ross was a 20/20 guy in St Paul - once settled in MLB wonder if he could exceed Lee.  The Morrisette guy at St Paul is interesting at 2nd - wonder if he could push Culpepper towards third rather than second. Fine if Clemens plays some second, I would not make him ‘the’ second baseman.  
 

I started this thinking Lee isn’t the Twins worry right now.  But thinking through this - they have options that would likely hold steady and possibly provide upside.  I certainly would consider trade options that might help other spots (bullpen, 2B, short term catcher), but wouldn’t give Lee away.  And if he is 3B to start next year, maybe he keeps on the incremental improvement.  

14 minutes ago, StiltedGopher said:

 Ben Ross was a 20/20 guy in St Paul - once settled in MLB wonder if he could exceed Lee.  The Morrisette guy at St Paul is interesting at 2nd - wonder if he could push Culpepper towards third rather than second. Fine if Clemens plays some second, I would not make him ‘the’ second baseman.

Crazy talk, Morrisette is a year older than Lee and has never played in the majors, Ross is 6 months younger has 21 plate appearances in the majors and they might push Lee off a position? You don't think if Lee was in the minors he would be putting up better numbers than either of them two. He hit more homers in the majors than either of those two did in the minors. Both of those two guys future are utility/bench guys. 🫣

Man, the Raleigh season is one of the biggest mysteries of 2026.  On Brooks, I think we saw this year what he is.  Not an All-Star, but a guy who can play above average defense, give you a .740 OPS with 60 extra base hits and drive in 80 runs (Yes, I believe there is still value in driving in runs...it's the object of the game isn't it?  To score runs?...lol).  

His scouting report shows that he was expected to be better than a "high floor" player. I would argue that he is SLOWLY working his way towards his potential ceiling. A 65 hit tool suggests a .275-.300 hitter, which he has not yet attained. But if he continues to improve, he can reach that level. Maybe 25-30 HR satisfies the 55 Power number? So, is a .280 hitter with 27 HR and 88 RBI (who also fields his position more than dependably) a 60 Overall player.

My read on Brooks Lee.

He looks like an above-average defensive 3B.

He makes contact a lot, especially in the zone.

He doesn't make square or hard contact, but at least this year he seemed to be able to poke several balls over the fence. Some of this could be a little luck, because his HR/FB rate was higher than last year, but he also hit more FBs and LDs period.

He doesn't walk much (a metronomic 5.9% of his plate appearances in each of 2024, 2025, and 2026), possibly because his weak power makes pitchers less scared to pitch him more in the zone and his high contact rates make throwing outside the zone less helpful (for example, he's pitched in the heart of the plate more than Lewis, but outside and away much less frequently).

On the continuum between baseball smarts and athletic skill, he's much closer to the baseball smarts side than is the average player.

His Statcast stats in 2026 were almost the same as they were in 2024 and 2025, suggesting his results this year may have been more from batted ball luck.

Prediction for 2027: even better defense, possibly similar or a little worse offense. He may be maximizing his ability, but refinement of his line drive and fly ball skills, combined with possible improvements in strength, could yield a few more homers. If he could figure out a way to take more walks, he could also gain himself better pitches to hit.

I never thought he would never even sniff 20 HRs!

Solid player and a building block (or a trade piece) if he is able to take a few more walks.

11 hours ago, Patzky said:

If his HRs become ringing doubles, they may become singles because Lee is not fleet afoot. .280 and defense? Yeah that's ok by me.

Lee hit .253 this year. Sorcery would be required to increase his batting average by 30 points because homers became singles or doubles.

In fact, the opposite would probably occur, with fewer balls leaving the park causing his batting average to go down. Using this year's .268 BABIP (career-high), if all of Lee's homers stayed in the park, 24 HRs would become 6 hits and 18 outs, and his BA would go from .253 to .222.