2022 MLB 8th Overall Pick Brooks Lee Called Up to Minnesota Twins
7/3/2024 1:45:00 PM | Baseball, General
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — At about 2 p.m. Central Time on Wednesday, Brooks Lee got the call he's been working so hard for ever since he had a ball and bat in his hands. That occurred the moment he was able to walk.
Lee will be in a Minnesota uniform Wednesday at 7:10 p.m. (5:10 p.m. Pacific) when the Twins host the Detroit Tigers at Target Field. At that time, he will become the 24th former Cal Poly baseball player ever to play in the Major Leagues and the 15th under current head coach and father, Larry Lee.
"Liz (Larry's wife), Jenna (Brooks' sister) and myself are very proud of Brooks and the road he has taken to get to where he is at," said Larry Lee. "He has put in so much time to improve day after day.
"It's a goal and a dream that he has had since he was very young," the 22-year Mustang mentor added. "It's a very emotional moment for our entire family."
Brooks didn't have to travel far to make it to Target Field. Earlier in the day, he was scheduled to play for the Triple-A Saint Paul Saints against Gwinnett at CHS Field in downtown St. Paul, about a 13-minute drive from Target Field.
A 2019 graduate of San Luis Obispo High School, Brooks earned his promotion by slashing .329/.394/.635 in 20 games so far this season at Saint Paul. Among his 28 hits are five doubles and seven home runs, driving in 21 runs.
During a nine-game hitting streak in late June, Brooks went 16-for-39 (.410) at the plate with 14 RBIs, lifting his average 58 points to .361. He produced five multiple-hit games during the run and homered twice with five RBIs against Toledo on June 20, one day after doubling three times versus the Mud Hens.
Brooks' rise through the minor leagues was a quick one.
Drafted eighth overall by the Twins in the 2022 MLB Draft, Lee played four games for the Florida Complex League's Twins, hitting .353, before he was assigned to Cedar Rapids for most of the rest of the summer, hitting .289 with four home runs and 12 RBIs.
Brooks also played in the final two games of the regular season at Wichita, going 3-for-8, and played in five Texas League playoff games for Wichita. He went 5-for-8 as the Wind Surge's designated hitter in the two-game championship finals against Frisco.
Lee started the 2023 campaign at Wichita and hit .292 in 87 games before he was elevated to Saint Paul and hit .237 across 38 contests.
Lee missed the first six weeks of the 2024 campaign due to a herniated disc in his lower back. After 10 rehab games — five each with the Twins' Florida Complex League team and the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels — compiling a .395 average with three doubles and five RBIs, he was promoted back to Triple-A Saint Paul on June 5.
Lee, 23, is the highest overall pick out of Cal Poly as well as the fourth player from the school taken in the first round (including supplemental picks).
Lee earned five All-America awards following the 2022 season, including first-team nods from Collegiate Baseball and the American Baseball Coaches Association. He was a first-team pick on two of the six All-American teams in 2021 as well.
Named winner of the Brooks Wallace Award as the nation's top collegiate shortstop following the 2022 season, Brooks hit .357 in his second full campaign at Cal Poly with 25 doubles, 15 home runs and 55 RBIs. He led the Big West in hits, walks, doubles, home runs, runs scored, RBIs, slugging percentage and total bases and was second in batting average and on-base percentage.
Fifth in the nation in doubles, Lee produced hitting streaks of 19 and 12 games in 2022 and led the Mustangs with 26 multiple-hit games and 16 multiple-RBI contests, becoming only the second player in Big West history to earn the conference's field player of the year award twice. Mark Kotsay accomplished the same feat in 1995 and 1996.
Brooks, who missed nearly all of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season following knee and hamstring surgeries, earned 2021 co-Big West Player of the Year honors by hitting .342 with 10 home runs, 57 RBIs and a school-record 27 doubles. He further solidified his bona fides as one of the top college bats in the class by hitting very well both for Team USA and in the Cape Cod League in the summer of 2021.
Twins third baseman Royce Lewis left Tuesday's game against Detroit in the sixth inning with tightness in his left groin, an injury he suffered after hitting a two-run double in the third inning.
A day prior to Brooks' promotion, he was selected to participate in the 2024 MLB All-Star Futures Game and the Futures Skills Showcase on July 13 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
Lee will be in a Minnesota uniform Wednesday at 7:10 p.m. (5:10 p.m. Pacific) when the Twins host the Detroit Tigers at Target Field. At that time, he will become the 24th former Cal Poly baseball player ever to play in the Major Leagues and the 15th under current head coach and father, Larry Lee.
"Liz (Larry's wife), Jenna (Brooks' sister) and myself are very proud of Brooks and the road he has taken to get to where he is at," said Larry Lee. "He has put in so much time to improve day after day.
"It's a goal and a dream that he has had since he was very young," the 22-year Mustang mentor added. "It's a very emotional moment for our entire family."
Brooks didn't have to travel far to make it to Target Field. Earlier in the day, he was scheduled to play for the Triple-A Saint Paul Saints against Gwinnett at CHS Field in downtown St. Paul, about a 13-minute drive from Target Field.
A 2019 graduate of San Luis Obispo High School, Brooks earned his promotion by slashing .329/.394/.635 in 20 games so far this season at Saint Paul. Among his 28 hits are five doubles and seven home runs, driving in 21 runs.
During a nine-game hitting streak in late June, Brooks went 16-for-39 (.410) at the plate with 14 RBIs, lifting his average 58 points to .361. He produced five multiple-hit games during the run and homered twice with five RBIs against Toledo on June 20, one day after doubling three times versus the Mud Hens.
Brooks' rise through the minor leagues was a quick one.
Drafted eighth overall by the Twins in the 2022 MLB Draft, Lee played four games for the Florida Complex League's Twins, hitting .353, before he was assigned to Cedar Rapids for most of the rest of the summer, hitting .289 with four home runs and 12 RBIs.
Brooks also played in the final two games of the regular season at Wichita, going 3-for-8, and played in five Texas League playoff games for Wichita. He went 5-for-8 as the Wind Surge's designated hitter in the two-game championship finals against Frisco.
Lee started the 2023 campaign at Wichita and hit .292 in 87 games before he was elevated to Saint Paul and hit .237 across 38 contests.
Lee missed the first six weeks of the 2024 campaign due to a herniated disc in his lower back. After 10 rehab games — five each with the Twins' Florida Complex League team and the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels — compiling a .395 average with three doubles and five RBIs, he was promoted back to Triple-A Saint Paul on June 5.
Lee, 23, is the highest overall pick out of Cal Poly as well as the fourth player from the school taken in the first round (including supplemental picks).
Lee earned five All-America awards following the 2022 season, including first-team nods from Collegiate Baseball and the American Baseball Coaches Association. He was a first-team pick on two of the six All-American teams in 2021 as well.
Named winner of the Brooks Wallace Award as the nation's top collegiate shortstop following the 2022 season, Brooks hit .357 in his second full campaign at Cal Poly with 25 doubles, 15 home runs and 55 RBIs. He led the Big West in hits, walks, doubles, home runs, runs scored, RBIs, slugging percentage and total bases and was second in batting average and on-base percentage.
Fifth in the nation in doubles, Lee produced hitting streaks of 19 and 12 games in 2022 and led the Mustangs with 26 multiple-hit games and 16 multiple-RBI contests, becoming only the second player in Big West history to earn the conference's field player of the year award twice. Mark Kotsay accomplished the same feat in 1995 and 1996.
Brooks, who missed nearly all of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season following knee and hamstring surgeries, earned 2021 co-Big West Player of the Year honors by hitting .342 with 10 home runs, 57 RBIs and a school-record 27 doubles. He further solidified his bona fides as one of the top college bats in the class by hitting very well both for Team USA and in the Cape Cod League in the summer of 2021.
Twins third baseman Royce Lewis left Tuesday's game against Detroit in the sixth inning with tightness in his left groin, an injury he suffered after hitting a two-run double in the third inning.
A day prior to Brooks' promotion, he was selected to participate in the 2024 MLB All-Star Futures Game and the Futures Skills Showcase on July 13 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
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