The Minnesota Twins’ opening day for the 2026 MLB season currently looks like Josh Bell will be at first base, Luke Keaschall at second, Royce Lewis at third and Brooks Lee mans the shortstop position. It’s a fairly inexperienced group outside of Bell, who might be the Twins’ biggest addition this offseason. Royce Lewis has played the role of a quality major league third baseman for at least part of his Major League career. Luke Keaschall, while not having much Major League experience, looks like a surefire second baseman at the Major League level based on everything we saw from him last season.
Should the Twins rely on Brooks Lee to be their full-time shortstop next year?
The biggest question mark in the Twins’ fielding picture comes from the shortstop position. As it stands now, Brooks Lee will be the Twins’ everyday shortstop next season. Currently, the only other players on the Twins’ 40-man roster with previous shortstop experience at the big league level are Royce Lewis, who will get almost all of his reps at third next year. The Twins then also acquired utility infielder Tristan Gray from the Red Sox, who has limited experience at shortstop during his time with the Rays. If the Twins don’t make any further infield additions this season, it’s clear the Twins expect to see more than 140 games from Brooks Lee as their everyday shortstop.
It’s not that Brooks Lee is totally raw in the position; he was the Twins’ top shortstop for the final two months of the season last year after they shockingly dealt Correa to the Astros. It’s safe to say that Brooks Lee’s overall defensive performance at the shortstop position last season wasn’t as bad as people might think. Lee was worth -4 outs above average between second, third and short distance reps. If we only count his short time, Lee was only -1 outs above average. This is still below average, but just; it would put him around the 40th percentile defensively. All things considered, that’s a decent number for a 24-year-old who was drafted primarily for his bat and not his defense.
Coming out of college, scouts thought Lee might become a full-time third baseman at the Major League level because of his above-average arm strength. This is something Twins fans have yet to see from Brooks. Last season, his arm strength was only in the 28th percentile among major league defensemen. It clearly doesn’t seem like Lee will be making the move to third base anytime soon, given the Twins’ current defensive plans. Although it would be nice to see Lee’s arm strength hopefully increase next year, as it is still a very important aspect of a major league shortstop’s defensive ability. A big reason why the Twins’ previous shortstop, Carlos Correa, was such a highly skilled defender.
In my mind, I think having Lee’s bat for all of next season could be a bigger problem than his glove. It’s safe to say that Brooks Lee’s hitting ability hasn’t quite lived up to expectations over his first two seasons at the Major League level. Heading into the 2022 MLB Draft, Lee was taken as the top college prospect MLB.com’s Preliminary Prospect Rankings. He was ranked fifth overall, behind four top high school prospects.
Brooks Lee’s bat, and especially his consistent contact skills, is what made him such a highly praised player by major league scouts. Last season, the Twins didn’t see the contact ability expected from him when they drafted him 8th overall in 2022. Brooks Lee’s expected batting average of .234 from Baseball Savant placed him in just the 20th percentile among other Major League hitters. This was actually lower than his .243 xBA in 2024, despite Lee having generally better numbers at the plate last season.
One thing Lee was able to do well in his second season that fits in with what scouts expected is his ability to put the ball in play. Lee got just 17.5 percent of his at-bats last season, which was high-scoring, in the 74th percentile. The easiest way Brooks Lee should be able to improve at the plate next season is to chase fewer pitches outside the zone. Lee chased 31.8 percent of throws outside the zone last season, which ranked him in the 25th percentile. A common problem for young hitters that can hopefully be improved upon as he sees more pitches at the big league level.
Ultimately, the Twins appear ready to trust Brooks Lee as their everyday shortstop in 2026. Expectations for his glove aren’t super high, but Twins fans are hopeful that over time he can become a reliable defender at the shortstop position for Minnesota. It’s also hopeful that as Lee becomes more comfortable pitching in the big leagues, we’ll see the contact skills that Twins fans were so optimistic about when they selected him 8th overall in 2022. It’s easy to argue that Brooks Lee having a breakout season would be huge for a Twins team trying to compete for an AL Central title in 2026.
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