MINNEAPOLIS — After missing the first 15 games of the 2025 MLB season with a lumbar strain, infielder Brooks Lee is showing that he can make an impact for the Minnesota Twins.
Lee continued his hot start by going 2-for-4 with an RBI double on Saturday against the Los Angeles Angels. He’s 8-for-17 (.471) while putting together a five-game hitting streak. In three of those five games, Lee has multiple hits, including in back-to-back games on April 23 and 24. That marked just the second time he had posted hits in consecutive contests.
The eighth overall pick in the 2022 MLB draft saw action in 50 games last season, posting just a .221/.265/.320 slash line in 172 at-bats. However, he has started the 2025 campaign red-hot after returning from back issues that caused him to sit out the final stretch of spring training and the start of the season.
Once he was healthy, Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said there was little hesitation in getting Lee back into the batting order.
“We had a need, I would say, because we had a few things going on. We had some health things going on, and we had at-bats and a place on the field to put him and let him go and play,” Baldelli said. “I do think it’s important that Brooks as a young player, is playing. He needs to be out there and playing and continuing to grow and develop as a player.”
Baldelli also said he has seen growth from Lee after he received some MLB experience last season.
“I think he was ready. I think he’s ready to show everyone what he can do,” Baldelli said. “I think he really is at that point where he wants to be able to play and perform and grab a spot on the team and in the lineup and show that he not only belongs here, but that he’s a damn good player. He wants to show it, so I think that’s what we’re getting from him right now.
“He’s a reliable young player on the field. He’s pretty fundamentally sound, wherever you put him. He slows the game down pretty good, and is starting to have some good at-bats. He looks good.”
Entering Saturday with a 10-16 mark, the Twins are looking for any kind of spark to get back into the American League Central race. If Lee can continue to grow in his second MLB season, part of the boost that the dormant Twins are desperately seeking could be within the 24-year-old’s bat.
