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While top prospect Walker Jenkins is getting a lot of the attention this offseason another prospect in the Twins farm system appears to be on the cusp of making his MLB debut in 2024.
After hitting .292 in 87 games in Double-A last season, shortstop Brooks Lee earned a promotion to Triple-A St. Paul where he slashed .237/.304/.428 while hitting five home runs and 23 RBIs for the Saints in 38 games.
Speaking to SiriusXM's Jim Bowden and Jim Duquette on Sunday, Twins general manager Thad Levine said the plan is for Lee to start the season at Triple-A -- and he suggested that he could be on the fast track to the big leagues.
"He's going to come to camp," Levine said on SiriusXM's Front Office show. "I think he's going to get a chance to showcase his abilities to get further acclimated to our coaching staff, to our major league environment. We're going to employ the strategy of when he tells us he's ready to go, we're going to get him up in the big leagues."
The Twins plan for infielder Brooks Lee — No. 18 overall prospect, per @MLBPipeline — to begin 2024 at Triple-A, GM Thad Levine told @MLBNetworkRadio today.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) January 28, 2024
Levine continued: “When he tells us he’s ready to go, we’re going to get him up to the big leagues.” @MLBNetwork
Lee is ranked 18th in Major League Baseball's latest prospect rankings, coming in as the No. 6 shortstop prospect. The 22-year-old is considered the No. 2 prospect in the Twins farm system behind the aforementioned Jenkins, who is ranked 10th among all prospects in the league.
"We look at the way Rocco (Baldelli) has managed our position player group and I think he's just done an excellent job of rotating guys through," Levine said. "So, the ability for Brooks to play second, to play short, to play a little third, maybe to DH from time-to-time and then give some of those guys a day off their feet and let them rotate through the DH spot. I just see that we're going to continue this rotation of this group.
"They're going to maintain some defensive flexibility and versatility that will allow Rocco to move them around the field a little bit. . . The good news is that we have the depth...of maybe five or six guys that can start at three spots in the lineup and that Rocco will just use those guys deftly throughout the course of the season, really stretch them out, maximize their ability and maximize the matchups day-in and day-out."
It'll be interesting to see how long it takes Lee to get the call, but the 2022 first-round pick certainly appears to be on the fast track.
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