Detroit Tigers’ infield prospect Hao-Yu Lee didn’t have the type of camp he was looking for this spring, but he remains one of the club’s best hopes for hitting help from the farm system in 2026. He was far enough ahead of the curve as a prospect that even now, after a full season of Triple-A ball, Lee only just turned 23 years old last month. So while his momentum has stalled out somewhat, there remains plenty of time for him to take the next step and contribute to a club that could use a right-handed hitting infielder, both this season and for the foreseeable future. Here, Lee rounds out our 45 future value tier in the system.
The Tigers acquired the Taiwanese infielder in the Michael Lorenzen trade with the Philadelphia Phillies back in 2023. At the time, he was a 20-year-old with good power potential and advanced hitting ability who was already tearing up the High-A level. The Tigers pushed him straight to Double-A as a 21 year old in 2024, and he more than held his own despite some minor injury trouble, posting a 143 wRC+ with 12 home runs and very good strikeout to walk numbers in 87 games with the Erie SeaWolves.
So very quickly, Lee showed off precocious hitting ability. The question entering 2025 was whether he could continue his torrid pace through the minors and push his way through to the major leagues. It didn’t quite work out that way, but it wasn’t a bad season either. He played all 126 games, hit 14 home runs, and his 20.2 K-rate and 11.9 percent BB-rate were good for the level, as was his .342 OBP. He just didn’t hit for quite as much power as he needs to in order to really breakout into an everyday player at second or third base. Still, he’s close, and even as he is there’s a good chance he can handle a part-time role as one of Tigers few right-handed hitting infield options this season.
Lee left the club pretty early into the Grapefruit League season and only got 14 plate appearances before joining Team Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) for the World Baseball Classic. Unfortunately, he suffered a left oblique strain and missed the tournament. He’s been back in games on the minor league side of camp over the past week, ramping back up to begin his season, and doesn’t seem likely to miss much, if any, time with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens season kicking off on the 27th of March in Lehigh Valley against the venerable IronPigs.
Beyond his bat, the things that make Lee compelling as a prospect are his aggressive, intense mindset on the bases, and his ability to play a very solid second base, and even handle third base in a pinch. He only started playing some third base last season, and while he was shaky there initially, his hands, reactions, and arm are all good enough to approach average there if he continues to improve his footwork and the finer points of the hot corner to help him make all the throws despite just average arm strength. Lee is only an average runner, but he stole 22 bases last year, mainly by being quick off the mark and learning to read pitchers first moves. His aggression will sometimes lead him into a mistake, but more maturity should smooth off the rough edges from his game, and he plays a very heads up, intelligent brand of baseball generally, endearing himself to Hens’ manager Gabe Alvarez.
Hao-Yu Lee is already a pretty good fastball hitter. He handles velocity well, and gets the barrel to heaters in all parts of the zone. His tendency to get caught out in front has at times left him struggling to pull the baseball and do as much damage as his plus raw power is capable of. He made this jump at Double-A, but he showed a similar issue against top shelf heat at the Triple-A level last year against right-handed pitching.
Where Lee has really struggled is with good breaking balls. He has the plate discipline not to chase too much, but right-handers with good sliders down and away are still a problem. Even in the zone his relatively flat swing sees him getting under the ball a lot against breaking stuff, with predictably weak contact in the air even though his two-strike approach is good enough to battle through long at-bats and still put something in play.
So, there’s still an issue or two keeping Lee from breaking out as an everyday infielder for the Tigers. He’s got to shore up his game more against better right-handed pitching to start profiling as a 2-3 WAR everyday player who needs to be in the lineup full-time. His defense and baserunning are pretty solid, but he’s not providing much surplus value there. It has to come from the that.
Fortunately, Lee already has a clear pathway to major league playing time against left-handed pitchers. With Javier Báez, Gleyber Torres, Spencer Torkelson, and Jahmai Jones presumably all on the Opening Day roster, there isn’t a lefty masher spot open right now, but if not this season, then next season that profile will become more valuable as Torres at least likely moves on.
Lee posted a .437 wOBA and a monstrous .271 ISO against left-handers’ fastball last year. He’s also a lot better at handling breaking stuff when it’s moving towards him rather than away. Lefties can get him reaching for changeups and splitters away at times, but they’re hard-pressed to do so. Even then, he can still do enough damage to fill Jahmai Jones’ role with the club, while bringing a lot better defense and versatility to the table.
There’s no rush this season as Lee is still pretty young, but the Tigers did have to add him to the 40-man roster back in the fall, so the clock is beginnging to tick already. There are probably going to be opportunities for either he or Max Anderson to play some infield and hit mostly against southpaws for the Tigers this year. Lee would do well to get off to a good start and show some signs of handling right-handers with good sliders more effectively this year. Even if he just continues to crush lefties, he’s got a good chance at his first tour of the major leagues, but it would really boost his stock above Anderson if he starts to sort out his issues with the top right-handers at the Triple-A level.
In the years ahead, the Tigers are almost certainly going to have to commit a lot more of their payroll each year toward rebuilding a post-Skubal rotation. To do that, they need a steady flow of young positional talent to keep things affordable without slipping offensively. Hao-Yu Lee still looks like a solid part of that plan, and it would be a huge gift to the organization if he can take the next step and round out his offensive game in 2026.
