Minnesota Twins Upgrade Brooks Lee’s Rehab Assignment

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Brooke Lee - Minnesota Twins
Credit: Chris Tilley-Imagn Images

Brooks Lee was placed on the injured list before the end of Minnesota Twins spring training, thanks to a lumbar strain in his chronically bad back. Without Lee and the their other injured former top 10 pick, Royce Lewis, the Twins have stumbled out of the 2025 gates to a 3-7 record, through ten games.

Tensions are already running a bit high. On Monday, manager Rocco Baldelli was ejected from the opening game of Minnesota’s four game series in Kansas City. It was quite the scene, too. The 40-year-old manager threw papers all of the field, from the dugout, before screaming at umpires for a full minute. All of that for a pitch clock violation.

As you can see, the Minnesota Twins could use Brooks Lee back in their lineup and infield. Not only is he one of the best infielders on their roster, defensively, but if he comes off the IR with a hot bat, he’s a .300 hitter who can produce upwards of 1.000 OPS, when going well. That’s why he was the No. 8 overall pick in 2022.

Brooks Lee inching closer to Minnesota Twins

How close is Lee to returning, though? Well, the 24-year-old out of Cal-Poly made his regular season pro debut on Sunday, in a rehab assignment game at Single-A, Fort Myers. He played shortstop for seven innings and got three at-bats for the Mighty Mussels.

Unfortunately, he went 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts. More importantly, however, is how his body responded to that day at the park. To that, the MN Twins had some good news on Tuesday the Mighty Mussels sent out news that Lee’s rehab assignment has been moved from Fort Myers up to St. Paul, where he’ll assumedly join the Saints’ lineup tonight or Wednesday.

The Saints are home for a six-game series this week against Omaha (Royals Triple A affiliate), so the timing couldn’t be more perfect. Last year, Lee also started the regular on IR, which caused him to miss multiple big league promotion opportunities.

Royce Lewis was injured on Opening Day and didn’t return for three months. Carlos Correa also had issues staying on the field early in the season, though not as much as he did in the second half, when Lee was available to help fill the infield void he left.

Related: MN Twins Injuries: Another Brock Stewart Setback + Michael Tonkin Latest

Last season, though, Brooks Lee didn’t return to playing baseball games until May 20, and didn’t reach St. Paul until June 5th. Across 20 Triple-A games in 2024, Lee crushed opposing pitching, slashing an absurd .329/.394/.635, with five doubles and seven home runs.

After a hot start big league start to his career, Lee’s game fell off and never really returned. When the dust settled last fall, Lee’s final slash line was .221/.265/.320, which made him a true roster bubble candidate this spring, where he didn’t look all that much better (.238/.273/.381), prior to his back problems returning.

MN Twins infield needs a Brooks Lee infusion

With Lee and Royce Lewis out of the picture, the Minnesota Twins have been forced to turn to Mickey Gasper, Edouard Julien and Jose Miranda to fill time at second and third base. Willi Castro has hit ok, in the early going as the team’s primary second baseman (.235/.333/.444).

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Miranda at third base. The 26-year-old owns a putrid .172/.172/.276 slash line with a 10/0 K/BB. His lone extra-base hit is a home run, and he seems nowhere close to replicating the 114 OPS+ from his rookie season, or 112 OPS+ last year.

Lee would be a prime candidate to immediately take over at the hot corner. He is also a switch hitter and therefor presents lineup flexibility for Baldelli. If the Twins can activate, and have a healthy version of the prospect Lee was expected to be, then they may have a nice boost to turn things around.

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