Stock Down: Brooks Lee, 2B
Team: St. Paul Saints (Triple-A)
Highest Rank: No. 14 (MLB Pipeline)
One major letdown in the latest rankings was how far Brooks Lee tumbled in the Baseball America list. He fell ten spots to No. 45, although he moved up in the MLB Pipeline ranking despite being injured for almost all of the season so far.
That's likely why he took a tumble in the eyes of Baseball America, but Lee dropping some spots shouldn't be viewed as him starting to slide in the wrong direction. If anything, it's par for the course in terms of what his herniated disc has done to hold him back this year.
Lee was fighting for an Opening Day roster spot but a back injury in the final week of Spring Training ended his quest. He would have probably gotten called up after Royce Lewis went down with a right quad strain, but because he was injured Lee wasn't an option for the Twins.
Now he's in a tough spot at Triple-A St. Paul because he's battling Edouard Julien for whatever roster spot eventually opens up for Minnesota. Both Lee and Julien can replace Kyle Farmer and Willi Castro at second base, but only one of them will likely get the call.
There's almost no chance that we don't see Lee in the big leagues at some point, it's just a matter of how soon it is. his injury has. knocked him off the timeline he was originally on and has dinged him in the top prospect rankings but it all seems as though it will be a temporary setback.