BRADENTON, Fla. – Twins manager Rocco Baldelli got his first chance to get an extended look at the organization’s top prospect, Brooks Lee, this spring. He likes what he saw.
“He had what I would call an almost perfect camp because nothing is ever perfect, but he did everything and showed us everything we would have hoped to see from him,” Baldelli said.
In short, the 22-year-old was reassigned to minor league training camp on Saturday. Forest Lake slugger Matt Wallner, who spent the final weeks of the 2022 season with the Twins, was optioned to Triple A as the team reduced the number of players remaining in major league camp.
Lee, the youngest player invited to major league camp, finished his stint with the big league team 7-for-37 (.189) while leading off at shortstop. On Saturday, he went 1-for-4 with one RBI in his final at-bat in the Twins’ 7-4 loss to the Pirates at LECOM Park.
He will now head to minor league camp, where Baldelli said he will continue to focus on “developing himself into a quality, major league-caliber shortstop.”
“You don’t invite players to come here unless you think you have the right person to come here,” Baldelli added. “He’s the right person.”
The eighth pick in the 2022 draft, Lee quickly advanced through the lower levels of the Twins’ system, jumping to Double-A Wichita late last season. In 31 minor league games split between three different levels, Lee hit .303 with an OPS of .839. It looks like he will start his season again at Double-A.
“Just being with the big leaguers, that’s all that matters,” Lee said of his takeaways from big league camp. “I just want to be comfortable and feel at home, and that’s how I feel right now. I’m just excited at some point to get out there and reconnect with a lot of those guys.”
With a host of left-handed hitting corners on the roster, Wallner, the organization’s No. 7 prospect on MLB Pipeline, returns to Triple-A after finishing last year’s season with the Twins. Wallner, who played in 18 games for the Twins last September and October, is likely to find himself back in the majors at some point this season.
Short
Trevor Larnach went 2 for 3 with a home run in Saturday’s game against the Pirates. … Byron Buxton went 3 for 3 with a double and a walk in a minor league game in Fort Myers. Alex Kirilloff went four innings in that game at first base, going 0-for-2. … Saturday’s game ended with a pitch clock violation on David Bañuelos that resulted in a strikeout.
