4 biggest questions Twins need to answer in Spring Training
By Josh Hill
When Will Brooks Lee get called up?
Last year Royce Lewis and Edouard Julien helped lead a youth movement that saw some of the Twins best young prospects make a big impact on the MLB roster. It seems we're in for a continuation of that, with Brooks Lee potentially headlining another fantastic rookie class for Minnesota.
Walker Jenkins jumped Lee as the Twins' top prospect in the farm system, but that's more of a commentary on how bright the future is than anything that went wrong. In fact, Lee's ascension has continued to stun at every turn as he's gone from a fast riser through the minor leagues to potentially being Major League ready by the time Opening Day rolls around.
That begs the question of when Lee will get called up and what role he'll play once he arrives.
It sounds like the answer to the first question is very soon. Even though he was drafted just two years ago, Lee made it all the way to Triple-A last September and has gone from a potential call-up candidate to a guy the team traded its All-Star second baseman to make room for. Jorge Polanco wasn't traded explicitly because of Lee's expected arrival, but he was a big part of the logjam of infield talent that needed to be accounted for.
That dovetails into the conversation about where he'll play. He projects to be a second baseman, with better defensive skills than Julien. He could also be depth behind Carlos Correa and Royce Lewis, as the Twins are expected to try him out at those positions this spring.
It seems like a matter of when, not if, Lee will get called up. He was a non-roster invite to Spring Training and the Twins have to use that time to figure out where he best fits into the lineup.