Brooks Lee is one of the top amateur prospects in baseball as the 2022 MLB Draft approaches. Lee has similar hitting mechanics to Carlos Correa. When Lee loads up preparing to swing his hands are at the letters of his uniform which allows him to put the bat on balls located in all areas of the strike zone. Lee hits the ball to all fields and from both sides of the plate. He is not a pull hitter, meaning that if he is batting from the right side, he is not constantly hitting the ball to left field. This shows great plate vision and discipline to know how to react to different locations and pitches. He hits the ball where it is pitched, a task that is easier said than done.

Something that he should work on to improve his game is extending his stride while swinging. Having a longer stride will put more strength in his swing and will hit the ball harder and farther, which results in more extra base hits and home runs. Making these adjustments is tricky because if the stride gets too big there could be too much torque in his mechanics. Bryce Harper has this problem when he swings at balls on the outside part of the plate. Often, he will swing and miss or not make solid contact resulting in weakly hit groundballs because the momentum of his body is going in a different direction.

It seems that Lee is more sought after for his bat and not his fielding abilities. He had eleven errors in 58 games during the 2022 college baseball season with a fielding % of .951, which is less than stellar. The position of shortstop is the most demanding in the sport and Lee will need to work on his defense as he begins his professional baseball journey. Luckily, for Lee and the Pirates, defense is an easier skill to teach and improve than hitting. 

MLB.com projects that Brooks Lee will be taken fifth overall in this year’s draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates. I would be perplexed if the Bucs select him, seeing how they currently have O’Neil Cruz in the minor league system who has been viewed as the shortstop of the future. But Cruz has been lauded more for his bat than his defensive abilities so I would not be surprised if the Pirates have plans for him to shift positions and have Lee take over. Only time will tell.

The MLB Draft begins Sunday, July 17th on MLB Network.

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