For the first time since he started playing baseball, Brooks Lee couldn’t hit a fastball.
Throughout his career, from Little League to high school through college and on to the pros, Lee could always handle heaters. The Twins infielder’s ability to put the bat on the ball was so well-respected that Baseball America graded his hit tool at 70 on the 20-80 scouting scale.
But not last season.
Lee enjoyed immediate success after making his major-league debut at 23 in early July. But all of a sudden, he couldn’t catch up with fastballs, which led to a lengthy, frustrating slump and later a decision to make the necessary adjustments.
Wanting to rediscover the form that made him a first-round pick out of Cal Poly in 2022, Lee spent the offseason focused on his hands, trying to simplify and shorten his swing. He believes the changes will help him demonstrate he’s more the player who started his big-league career by going 11-for-24, rather than the one who finished his first season with a .221/.265/.320 slash line in 185 plate appearances.
“I always hammer fastballs,” Lee said. “My whole life. Last year was the first time I never hit a fastball. It makes it pretty difficult to hit. … I happened to fail after being on top of the world for two weeks. It sucked. (The first season) was not as enjoyable as I would have thought. But you play good, you feel good.”
The eighth pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, Lee looked destined for stardom early on after arriving in the majors July 3.
Lee earned the promotion after returning to Triple-A St. Paul in June and raking, with his hot streak carrying over to the majors. After striking out against the Detroit Tigers in his first big-league plate appearance, Lee ripped a 95 mph fastball at the top of the zone for a single. He followed the first hit of his career with 10 more in his next 22 at-bats.
But a 14-for-75 stretch followed before Lee was placed on the injured list with right biceps tendinitis on Aug. 8. Even after he returned to the Twins on Sept. 1, Lee continued to struggle, going 13-for-73.
“Guys like Brooks and others who got some time in the big leagues (last season), not that they weren’t ready for it, they were,” Twins president Derek Falvey said. “But you realize how tough it is to play a full season of Major League Baseball. All of those guys are going to benefit from that.”
Lee is pleased to have achieved his dream of reaching the majors, but he’s otherwise unsatisfied with his 2024 season. As a player who hit .351 in college and produced an .841 OPS in 860 minor-league plate appearances, he wants to show more of that talent at the major-league level.
“It was great to be called up,” Lee said. “But that’s in the past now, too. I think everyone kind of knows what I’m capable of. It’s not a standard. But I hold myself up to that competition, that level. I would like to do that again, sustain it for a season, a whole career. So that’s what I’m trying to do.”
To achieve sustainability, the switch-hitting Lee is trying to shorten his swing.
He believes an inefficient swing led to a slower bat, which left him incapable of hitting certain pitches and making bad swing decisions on others.
Lee’s 35.8 chase percentage was 7 percentage points higher than the league average (28.5 percent), according to Baseball Savant. Even though he made more contact than the average hitter when swinging at pitches out of the zone, it frequently led to weak contact. Lee topped the ball more often than the average major leaguer and he got under more pitches than the average hitter by nearly 6 percentage points.
He noticed his hands were positioned too high last season as he began his swing and got into his load, which led to a less efficient bat path. In essence, his swing got longer and slower. Though his hands are set in a similar position now, he believes his barrel is in a better position as he enters his swing, which leads to a faster bat and better contact.
“When you have good mechanics, and your swing is quick, you don’t have any wasted movements, then you get to make a decision later,” Lee said. “I think it’s a big difference in how I see the pitch and then my swing decisions. … I just got to get back to that.”
He also wants to start punishing fastballs again.
Lee batted .176 last season against fastballs, a pitch opponents used against him 55 percent of the time. Not only did he produce weak contact against the fastball, but he also expanded the zone far too often for his liking.
Early in camp, Lee has looked good at the plate. He’s hitting for some power, with two homers in 34 at-bats this spring. He homered on a 94 mph fastball from New York Yankees righty Gerrit Cole on March 6 after nearly homering in his first at-bat of the game and settling for a single. The signs are encouraging for the Twins, who just want Lee to get back to being himself.
“Brooks just needs to get out there and simplify things,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Having quality at-bats and controlling the zone is going to be really important for him, something that challenged him during the season last year and something that is part of his focus going into this year. I think that doing it in spring training games, that’s all he can do right now.”
(Photo: Jonathan Dyer / Imagn Images)
