Lee is upping the defensive side of his game, and his manager is noticing it.
Brooks Lee was the story of Saturday night for the Minnesota Twins.
The young shortstop saved the game twice with his glove, and his manager said the quiet part out loud about how far Lee has come.
The Twins beat the Cleveland Guardians 2-1 in 11 innings at Progressive Field, climbing to 17-23 with the win over a Cleveland team that sits at 21-20 atop the American League Central and has owned this matchup for years.
The game started two hours late because of heavy thunderstorms, and both teams combined for just four hits across 11 innings.
Lee will not forget this one.
Lee Saves the Game Twice
In the 10th inning with the bases loaded and one out, Lee made a diving grab on a line drive up the middle off the bat of Daniel Schneemann, and Byron Buxton sent the Twins ahead in the 11th with a long double off the wall.
With two outs in the bottom of the frame, Lee saved it again, sliding to corral a Brayan Rocchio grounder up the middle before firing across his body for the final out.
Twins manager Derek Shelton spoke about Lee after the win, and he sounded like a guy who had been waiting all season for exactly this.
"Brooks had some struggles early defensively. Those two plays, the line drive back up through the middle, and then the play at the end of the game, he just continues to get better. We're seeing it on both sides of the ball. He just continues to become a complete player."
A Turning Point for Brooks Lee
Lee came into this year with real questions about his glove after grading out to a -8 in defensive runs saved at shortstop last season, when the Twins handed him the job following the Carlos Correa trade.
The early weeks of 2026 looked a lot like 2025, but something has shifted over the last week and change.
Lee is slashing .261 with five home runs, 21 RBI, and a 102 OPS+, and his bat has come alive over the last two weeks.
He has gone from a guy some thought might be optioned to Triple-A by midseason to one of the steadier names in the Twins lineup.
That is a big jump in a short window, and Saturday looked like a player figuring it out in real time.
Why Lee Matters More Than People Think
The 25-year-old switch-hitter is exactly what the Twins were hoping for when they bet on him.
Minnesota is 3.5 games back of Cleveland in the AL Central and badly needs its young core to grow up fast.
Lee was a top-10 pick in 2022, the son of a college coach, and the bat was always going to play.
His defense is what will decide whether he sticks at shortstop long-term, and after Saturday night, that question got easier to answer.