The Minnesota Twins announced today that infielder Brooks Lee has been named the 2023 Sherry Robertson Award winner as the Twins minor league Player of the Year and right-handed pitcher Cory Lewis has been named the 2023 Jim Rantz Award winner as the Twins minor league Pitcher of the Year.
Lee, 22, split the minor league season between Double-A Wichita and Triple-A St. Paul, combining to hit .275 (138-for-501) with 39 doubles, three triples, 16 home runs, 84 RBI, 83 runs scored and an .808 OPS in 125 games. He began the season with Wichita, leading all Double-A hitters with 31 doubles and pacing the Texas League with 42 extra-base hits before being promoted to St. Paul in early August. The 5-foot-11, 205-pound infielder was named Twins minor league Player of the Week two times during the season (May 7 and July 16) and finished the season ranking first among all Twins minor leaguers in doubles (39), tied for second in RBI (81) and second in total bases (231), third in hits (138) and games played (125), and fourth in runs scored (83). Lee was also one of 10 players in all minor league baseball with 80-plus runs scored, 35-plus doubles, 15-plus home runs, 80-plus RBI and 50-plus walks in the 2023 season. He is ranked by both MLB.com and Baseball America as the second-best prospect in the Twins system. The San Luis Obispo, California native was selected by the Twins in the first round (8th overall) of the 2022 First-Year Player Draft out of California Polytechnic State University. In two minor league seasons in the Twins farm system, Lee has hit .281 (175-for-623) with 45 doubles, three triples, 20 home runs, 99 RBI, 100 runs scored, a .355 on-base percentage, a .459 slugging percentage and an .814 OPS in 156 games.
Lewis, 22, split the 2023 minor league season between Low-A Fort Myers and High-A Cedar Rapids, combining to go 9-4 with a 2.49 ERA (101.1 IP, 28 ER), 33 walks, 118 strikeouts, a 1.06 WHIP and a .198 (74-for-373) opponent batting average in 22 starts. The 6-foot-5, 220-pound right-hander was named Twins minor league Pitcher of the Week one time on the season (June 11) and was tied for first among all Twins minor league pitchers in wins (9), second in strikeouts (118), tied for third in games started (22) and seventh in innings pitched (101.1). He is ranked by MLB.com as the No. 13 prospect in the Twins organization. The Fountain View, California native was selected by the Twins in the ninth round of the 2022 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of California, Santa Barbara.
The Sherry Robertson Award, named in honor of the Twins’ first farm director, was established in 1970 to recognize the top Twins minor league performer each season. Since 2002, the award has recognized the Twins Minor League Player of the Year while an additional award has been created to recognize the Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Year. This award was named in honor of former Twins Minor League Director and Twins Hall of Famer Jim Rantz. Past winners of the Sherry Robertson Award include Butch Wynegar (1974), Kent Hrbek (1981), Gene Larkin (1986), Denny Neagle (1990), Marty Cordova (1992), LaTroy Hawkins (1993 and ’94), Todd Walker (1996), David Ortiz (1997), Michael Cuddyer (2001), Joe Mauer (2003), Brian Dozier (2011), Byron Buxton (2013), Max Kepler (2015), Alex Kirilloff (2018), Trevor Larnach (2019), Jose Miranda (2021) and Matt Wallner (2022). Past winners of the Jim Rantz Award include Jesse Crain (2003), Scott Baker (2004), Francisco Liriano (2005), Matt Garza (2006), Kyle Gibson (2010), José Berríos (2014 and ’15) and Louie Varland (2021 and ’22). Lee and Lewis, along with the other Twins 2023 award winners, will be recognized at the 19th Annual Diamond Awards on Thursday, January 25, 2024 at The Armory in Minneapolis.
(info courtesy of Twins)
