The Minnesota Twins' opening day infield for the 2026 MLB season currently looks like it will be Josh Bell at first base, Luke Keaschall at second, Royce Lewis at third, and Brooks Lee manning the shortstop position. It's a fairly inexperienced group outside of Bell, who is arguably the Twins' biggest offseason addition. Royce Lewis has looked the part of a quality major league third baseman for at least some portion of his major league career. Luke Keaschall, although he doesn't have much major league experience under his belt, looks like a surefire quality second baseman at the major league level based on everything we saw from him last season.
Should the Twins trust Brooks Lee to be their full-time shortstop next year?
The biggest question mark in the Twins' infield picture comes from the shortstop position. As it stands right now, Brooks Lee will be the Twins' everyday shortstop next season. Currently, the only other players on the Twins' 40-man roster with prior shortstop experience at the big league level are Royce Lewis, who will be getting almost all of his reps at third next year. The Twins then also acquired utility infielder Tristan Gray from the Red Sox, who has limited experience at shortstop during his time with the Rays. If no further infield additions are made by the Twins this offseason, it's clear that the Twins will be expecting to get 140+ games out of Brooks Lee this season as their everyday shortstop.
It's not like Brooks Lee is totally raw at the position; he was the Twins' primary shortstop for the final two months of the season last year after they shockingly dealt Correa to the Astros. It's safe to say that Brooks Lee's overall defensive performance at the shortstop position last season wasn't quite as bad as people may think. Lee was worth -4 outs above average between reps at second, third, and short. Factoring in only his time at short, Lee was worth just -1 outs above average. This is still below average, but just barely; it would put him around the 40th percentile defensively. Which, all things considered, is a decent mark for a 24-year-old who was mainly drafted for his bat and not his defense.
Coming out of college, scouts had thoughts that Lee would potentially end up becoming a full-time third baseman at the major league level due to his above-average arm strength. This is another thing that Twins fans have yet to see from Brooks. Last season, his arm strength ranked in just the 28th percentile amongst major league defenders. Obviously, it doesn't seem like Lee will be transitioning over to third base anytime soon, given the Twins' current defensive plans. Although it would be nice to see Lee's arm strength hopefully increase next year, as it's still a very important aspect of a major league shortstop's defensive ability. A big reason why the Twins' previous shortstop, Carlos Correa, was such a highly skilled defender.
In my eyes, I think that having Lee's bat in the lineup for the entirety of next season could pose a bigger issue than his glove. It's safe to say that Brooks Lee's hitting ability has not quite lived up to expectations throughout his first two seasons at the major league level. Heading into the 2022 MLB Draft, Lee was slotted in as the top college prospect by MLB.com's draft prospect rankings. He was ranked fifth overall behind four top high school prospects.
Brooks Lee's bat, and specifically his consistent contact skills, is what made him such a highly touted prospect by major league scouts. Last season, the Twins did not see the contact ability that was expected from him when they drafted him 8th overall in 2022. Brooks Lee's .234 expected batting average by Baseball Savant placed him in just the 20th percentile amongst other major league hitters. This was actually down from his .243 xBA in 2024, despite Lee having overall better numbers at the plate last season.
One thing that Lee was able to do well during his sophomore season that aligns with what scouts were expecting is his ability to put the ball in play. Lee struck out in just 17.5 percent of his plate appearances last season, which ranked highly, in the 74th percentile. The simplest way that Brooks Lee should be able to improve at the plate next season is to chase fewer pitches outside of the zone. Lee chased 31.8 percent of pitches outside of the zone last season, which put him in the 25th percentile. A common issue for young hitters that hopefully can be improved upon as he sees more pitches at the big league level.
Ultimately, the Twins appear ready to trust Brooks Lee as their everyday shortstop in 2026. Expectations for his glove aren't super high, but Twins fans are hopeful that with time, he can be a reliable defender at the shortstop position for Minnesota. It's also hopeful that as Lee gets more comfortable hitting off big league pitching, we'll be able to see the contact skills that had Twins fans so optimistic when they selected him 8th overall in 2022. It's easy to argue that Brooks Lee having a breakout season would be massive for a Twins team that's trying to contend for an AL Central title in 2026.