Everything was coming up Twins during the 2022 MLB Draft. Several players were picked unexpectedly high in the top seven, leaving the Twins with one of the better position players by consensus, in Brooks Lee. While he lacked superstar upside and loud tools, he was as much of a sure thing as any draft pick can be to be an impactful player. Unfortunately, three years later, this assessment has yet to play out.
Lee was billed as a switch-hitter whose contact-oriented approach and plate discipline would more than make up for his lack of standout power. Defensively, he held his own at shortstop, but had the potential to be an elite defender anywhere else in the infield. While we’ve seen flashes of the latter, Lee’s offense has not come around as hoped thus far.
In just under 500 plate appearances, Lee is slashing .240/.279/.351. He’s been 26% worse than a league-average hitter (according to wRC+) in that time. Defensively, after a decent debut last season, he’s been a poor fielder at every position by Defensive Runs Saved this season, and Outs Above Average paints a similar picture. As a result, he’s been a replacement-level overall player.
In short, Lee has not lived up to expectations so far. While it’s still early in his career, there’s reason to be concerned, even if it may not be time to panic. Lee’s struggles defensively are probably the most surprising development. With a lower-ceiling offensive profile, the hope was that good defense would still make him a very valuable regular, even if the bat left something to be desired. Lee has been flexible defensively, but the metrics don’t show a player who can be carried by his glove. Young players often struggle with the bat early on, but defensively, Lee’s struggles have been almost equally pronounced.
Offensively, 500 plate appearances are hard to draw too much of a conclusion from. The concerning part about what we’ve seen from Lee is his complete abandonment of the plate approach with which he previously succeeded for his entire baseball career. His discerning eye at the plate has been nowhere to be found; he’s walked less than 5% of the time in his career. While he’s struck out less than 20% of the time, this can be attributed to his lack of plate discipline and ability to make contact. Lee is often flailing away at pitches outside of the zone and bouncing them in play for outs.
Brooks Lee has looked completely overmatched at the plate for almost his entire time at the big-league level. Even his white-hot June looks like a mirage more than an actual development, fueled by an unsustainable .431 batting average on balls in play. He’s followed that month up with one of the worst of his career so far, showing that he hadn’t made any strides in his plate approach. For a floundering Twins team lacking offense, Brooks Lee has undoubtedly been part of the issue.
The question, at this point, is where the Twins go from here. The Twins are set to sell at the trade deadline, making the rest of the season a wash. On one hand, Lee can continue to get everyday playing time and potentially figure things out. On the other hand, Lee has made very few strides offensively at the highest level so far, and it’s worth asking whether his broken plate approach can be fixed more easily against lesser competition.
Depending on where Luke Keaschall is in his elbow rehab, he’s set to return in the coming weeks and will be deserving of a spot on the roster. While there are other candidates to be demoted, such as DaShawn Keirsey Jr., swapping these two out wouldn’t open up much playing time. The Twins may see an opportunity to give Lee a reset and try to bring him back in 2026 with a more competitive offensive approach.
Lee was expected to be a near lock for everyday playing time by now, and a demotion would be another disappointing chapter in his career. Unfortunately, it appears to be a real possibility. While there is still plenty of time to turn things around, Lee doesn’t have an endless amount of time to cement himself as a core starting player on the Twins roster.
Between the sale of the team and another failure of a season, the regime that drafted him could be on their way out. Another group may not look at him in the same light as the one that took him at such a high place in the first round. In addition to Keaschall, Kaelen Culpepper continues to surge up the organizational infield ranks. The team also drafted Marek Houston in the first round this year. Houston’s defensive reputation surpasses Lee’s, and he’ll likely be a valuable regular if he’s able to hit at all.
Maybe Lee could flip a switch and fix whatever is broken, making all of these logistics a non-factor, but it’s time for him to start showing some progress. Whether it comes in the Warehouse District in Minneapolis or Lowertown in St. Paul, the Twins need to determine the best way to help him turn things around. This version of Brooks Lee isn’t the one drafted eighth overall, and the further we get from that draft, the more worrisome it becomes.