Why prospect Hao Yu Lee is the Phillies minor league hitter you should know about

The scouting reports suggested that the Taiwanese hitters couldn’t pull the ball against the hard-throwing American pitchers. So, in the early innings of the championship game at the 2019 under-18 Baseball World Cup, Team USA shaded the center fielder to left field when a left-handed hitter came to the plate and to right field for right-handed batters.

And then, with one swing, Hao Yu Lee punched a hole in that strategy.

“First pitch, the guy threw him a 95 [mph fastball], he hit it off the left-field wall. Almost went out — a bullet, straight off the left-field wall,” Phillies international scouting director Sal Agostinelli recalled the other day. “I mean, he hit the [bleep] out of the ball. He hurts the ball when he hits it.”

» READ MORE: What the shortstop aging curve means for the Phillies’ 11-year contract with Trea Turner

Four years later, Lee is the best hitter in a Phillies farm system that is loaded with touted pitchers, led by Andrew Painter and including Mick Abel and Griff McGarry, but lacking impact bats.

Never mind, for now, that Lee didn’t crack the ubiquitous top-100 lists compiled last year by Baseball America and MLB Pipeline. The infielder, who turns 20 on Feb. 3, wasn’t even rated among the Phillies’ top 10 prospects when last season began. After an eye-catching 2022, Lee’s first full season as a professional, several rival talent evaluators believe the buzz is about to align with the talent.

“He looks like he’s got a chance to hit and be a good offensive player,” one National League scout said last week. “Maybe at second base. Second or third. But he looks like a good one.”

Lee stands out for several reasons. He’s only 5-foot-10 but built solidly at about 200 pounds, and there’s right-handed power in that sturdy frame. He homered in four consecutive games in May at low-A Clearwater and recorded some of the highest exit velocities in the farm system. In 68 games for Clearwater and nine for high-A Jersey Shore, he slashed .280/.380/.423 with 14 doubles, eight homers, 41 walks, and 66 strikeouts in 342 plate appearances.

It was a solid season that would’ve been even better if Lee hadn’t missed six weeks with a broken hand. But despite the injury, he was named the best hitting prospect in the Florida State League in a vote by the league’s managers.

» READ MORE: The state of the Phillies’ minor league system: Investing in development and prospects to watch

Then, there is Lee’s origin story. The Phillies scouted him in Taiwan, fertile ground for baseball talent but far-flung for an organization that hasn’t made inroads in the Far East. The Phillies have never signed an Asian-born player who reached the majors.

But Youngster Wang, the scout on the ground, pushed for the higher-ups to have a look at Lee. Then-assistant general manager Bryan Minniti liked him, too. Agostinelli, international scouting coordinator Derrick Chung, and assistant GM Jorge Velandia were sold after traveling to the World Cup in South Korea, where Taiwan won the gold medal.

» READ MORE: Will Craig Kimbrel reemerge as a closer for the Phillies? His ‘twin’, Billy Wagner, believes he can.

The Phillies signed Lee for $570,000 in the summer of 2021 and brought him to their training facility in Clearwater, where he went 8-for-22 (.364) with two doubles, two triples, and one homer in nine games in the rookie-level Florida Complex League.

“All the talk I heard was what a good hitter he had an opportunity to be and what a competitor he is, and it didn’t take long for me to see that,” Clearwater manager Marty Malloy said by phone. “In our first series, his ability as a youngster to put the bat on the ball, hit with power, hit to all fields, it was obvious. The preparation was off the charts. We’d have to kick him out of the cage. He would hit all day if we let him.”

Lee batted cleanup for Malloy and was slugging .472 with seven homers in 187 plate appearances when he broke his hand on May 31. It took time to regain his power stroke upon his return. The Phillies promoted him to Jersey Shore late in the season, and after homering in his second game, he finished with eight hits in his last 20 at-bats.

But Lee also acclimated to life in a new country. With help from an interpreter, he bonded with English- and Spanish-speaking teammates and grew popular for his competitiveness, according to Malloy. Phillies minor league infield coordinator Adam Everett recalled an early-season game in which Lee jawed, in multiple languages, with the opposing team from the dugout after a teammate got hit by a pitch.

“Somebody was taunting him and he wanted to go after them, and that’s when a lot of guys said, ‘Whoa, this guy’s got some fire in him,’” Everett said. “Honestly, he’s got the big-league makeup. He’s got all the intangibles. Now it’s just a matter of getting him there.”

» READ MORE: Bryson Stott’s versatility, willingness to switch positions helped pave the way for Phillies to sign Trea Turner

The Phillies will push Lee as much as he allows. He played shortstop in Taiwan but was exposed last season to second base and third to maximize his versatility. Like it or not — and initially he didn’t like it, Malloy said — Lee probably will continue to move around the infield this season.

“I still remember calling him into the office and saying, ‘I need you to play third base for a week,’ and I could read his face and see that he wasn’t happy about it,” Malloy said. “But he did not say no. He said, ‘I’ll do whatever it takes to help us win.’ I think that’s a special characteristic for a young kid. Down the road, is it going to help him? I think so.”

Malloy used Bryson Stott as an example to illustrate the point. The Phillies drafted Stott as a shortstop, but his willingness to play second and third enabled the former first-round pick to break camp with the major-league team last spring.

And it’s Stott’s versatility that has him in line to play second base this season alongside newly signed $300 million shortstop Trea Turner.

“[Lee] knows we believe in him,” Malloy said. “He understands now that playing those three positions is only going to help him in the future as he moves up our ladder. What position he plays, I don’t know. If he keeps hitting, they’re going to find one.”

Indeed, Lee’s bat first caught the Phillies’ attention and figures to propel him now. Based on the exit velocity and hard-hit rates, Agostinelli labeled Lee “a poor man’s Jeff Kent,” rich praise considering Kent is the all-time leader among second basemen with 351 homers and was the 2000 National League MVP.

» READ MORE: Andrew Painter, Phillies’ No. 5 starter in 2023? It could happen. Just look to Rick Porcello.

Everett, Kent’s double-play partner with the Houston Astros in 2003-04, won’t go that far. But he’s in agreement that Lee’s stock is poised to take flight. His status on the prospect charts is bound to rocket, too.

“Right now, if you had a crystal ball, you would say, ‘I think he’s got a chance to be an outstanding second baseman,’” Everett said. “He’s got a chance to be an impact-type player at second base. He’s a powerful guy, and he’s young. He’s still a kid. As long as he doesn’t get satisfied and keeps that hunger, the sky’s the limit.”