In a Post-Correa World, Brooks Lee Is an X-Factor for the 2026 Twins

Outside of their oft-discussed bullpen, the Twins' biggest question mark heading into Spring Training lies at the shortstop position. After dumping Carlos Correa's salary at last year's trade deadline, Minnesota is entering its first full season in shortstop wilderness since 2021. And without other obvious options at the position, there's a lot of pressure on Brooks Lee to take a big step forward in his third year.

Four months after the Twins stunned the baseball world by signing Correa, they used the eighth overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft on Lee, a seemingly high-floor shortstop prospect from Cal Poly. He had raked in college and continued producing at the plate upon entering Minnesota's organization. The switch-hitting Lee reached Triple-A at 22 years old by the end of his first full professional season in 2023.

Heading into 2024, Lee was a consensus top-50 prospect in baseball. He missed the first couple months of the season due to a back injury, but once healthy, he got off to a fantastic start with Triple-A St. Paul in June. Lee hit eight homers and had a .974 OPS in 25 games before being called up to make his Twins debut on July 3. He was set to play in the All-Star Futures Game a couple weeks later, but suddenly he was part of the present for a Twins team that was right in the playoff mix.

Lee's big-league career got off to quite the start. He had a pair of hits in his debut and was 11 for 24 with a homer and 8 RBI in his first six games. He completely burst onto the scene and was delivering on the hype.

Brooks Lee blasts his first career Major League home run! pic.twitter.com/btrC5Dj2Id
— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) July 6, 2024

And then he went ice cold. After those first six games, Lee hit .182 with a .503 OPS in the final 44 games of his rookie season. For the first time in his adult life, he wasn't hitting at a high level.

Because of his pre-MLB track record, there was plenty of hope that Lee would be in line for a bounce-back season in 2025, but that didn't happen. Across 139 games last year, he hit .236 with 16 home runs and a .654 OPS. His walk rate was poor and the quality of his contact was poor. To make matters worse, Lee — who bounced between second base, third base, and shortstop — earned rough defensive metrics, too. Both his lateral range and his arm strength were well below average.

Brooks Lee's advanced metrics in 2025 | Baseball Savant

While Lee's first 200ish games and 700ish plate appearances haven't gone well, all hope is not lost. He turns 25 this weekend. There's still time for him to turn things around, both offensively and defensively. Early indications are that he's put in a significant amount of work in both areas of his game this offseason. But the reality is that's it's probably now or never for Lee.

Because the hardly-spending Twins haven't added real competition at shortstop this offseason, the job will almost certainly be Lee's by default on Opening Day. He'll get an opportunity to prove that he can be at least competent as an everyday starter at a crucial defensive position. If he can do that, it would go a long way toward the Twins' chances of being sneakily competitive in 2026. If he can't, they may need to turn to someone like Orlando Arcia, Ryan Kreidler, or Tristan Gray as a temporary backup plan until one of the organization's new top prospects is ready.

Lee was once thought of as the Twins' shortstop of the future, but that mantle now belongs to Kaelen Culpepper, their first-round pick in 2024. Culpepper, who was Minnesota's minor league player of the year last season, has star potential and could stick at shortstop. But he hasn't yet made his Triple-A debut, and the Twins seem unlikely to rush him up to the big leagues. The organization also now has 2025 first-rounder Marek Houston, who projects as a better defender but worse hitter than Culpepper.

Despite having Culpepper knocking on the door — he'll be in major league camp this spring — and Houston waiting in the wings, Lee can still re-establish himself as part of the Twins' future, either at shortstop or a different infield position. In order for that to happen, he'll have to both hit and defend at a significantly higher level than he did last season.

More Twins coverage