The Twins are in agreement with first-round pick Brooks Lee, reports Ted Schwerzler of Twins Daily (Twitter link). The former Cal Poly star will receive a $5.675MM signing bonus.
Lee, 21, fell to the Twins at eighth overall on Sunday, a bit of a surprise. He placed among the draft’s top six prospects in the estimation of Baseball America, The Athletic, ESPN, FanGraphs and MLB Pipeline. All but ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel slotted Lee as the top college prospect in the class (McDaniel had him second behind Kevin Parada), with unanimous praise for his hit tool projection. Baseball America suggests the switch-hitting infielder could develop into a plus-plus hitter (a 70 grade on the 20-80 scale) at his peak. Other outlets weren’t quite so bullish, but they all project him as an above-average hitter at minimum while raving about his awareness of the strike zone.
That was on full display at Cal Poly, where Lee dominated mid-major pitching. After barely playing in 2020 due to the combination of an early-season injury and the pandemic season cancelation, he spent the following two seasons as the Mustangs everyday shortstop. He posted an OPS north of 1.000 in each year, combining to hit .351/.426/.647 with 64 walks and 63 strikeouts through 538 collegiate plate appearances. The Big West hasn’t been one of the country’s better conferences in recent seasons, but Lee also raked over a 21-game stint in the Cape Cod League last summer and drew strong visual evaluations from scouts for his offensive upside.
Lee isn’t a great runner, and most outlets project he’ll move off shortstop either before or shortly after reaching the majors. He’s a fluid defender with good hands, however, so the general expectation is that he’ll remain on the infield at either second or third base.
The eight overall pick comes with a slot value of $5.4424MM, according to Jim Callis of MLB.com. Lee’s bonus comes in a bit above that mark, although it’s a touch lower than the slot value of the preceding pick. Minnesota’s overall bonus pool is just north of $10MM.
Big West not a strong conference? Long Beach St has the most mlb players, CSF always has a top 10 pitching staff, UCI and SB have been ranked the last couple years.. soooo yeah not to mention the biggest ball parks in all of college.
“in recent seasons,” which is pretty true. CSF and LBSU haven’t near their peak lately.
he’s gonna be a stud
Can he hit and chew gum at the same time?
Yes, and he’s all out of gum.
This is going to be a special player and I do think he can and will stick at shortstop. Everyone says his speed is bad, yet his instincts and hands abd very good. Ripken was not fast either. Not saying he is a Ripken, but this kid can really hit. It will be fun to see how he does with Austin Martin and Royce Lewis if the Twins keep these players. It will be a special core for sure.
The Twins keep getting SS that end up being anything but SS. Polanco. Gordon. Arraez.. The comedy team of Martin and Lewis are being groomed as OFs also. How hard is it for them to get a SS?
$35,100,000/year hard
Lewis looked pretty good until he blew up his knee again. I imagine he’ll get the keys whenever Correa heads out. (Of course when the Twins pick up Soto they can send Royce to WAS as part of the deal since Correa will obviously sign an extension the same day. It seems sort of inevitable when you write it out in black and white like that. And no I am not serious.)