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| Khalil Lee - Stock Photo by Herm Card - Herm444@gmail.com |
Khalil Lee, RF/CF/LF, Bats Left, Throws Left, DOB 6/26/1998, 5'10", 170 pounds, Drafted by the Kansas City Royals, 3rd round, 2016 Draft, 103 Overall. He is on the Mets 40 Man Roster.
The Mets acquired Khalil on February 10, 2021 as part of a three team trade that sent Andrew Benintendi to the Royals. The Mets gave up Josh Winkowski (who was acquired as part of the Steven Matz to Toronto trade) along with minor league prospect Freddy Valdez.
At the time of the trade last winter, I was a little skeptical. He had great speed, great arm, and power but he struck out more than he hit.
During the season, I spoke to Syracuse Hitting Coach, Joel Chimelis, about Khalil who said: "I think Lee has come a long way mechanically. I think he needs a better understanding of how the body works and how to be more efficient with the body and the barrel. He’s still young. He just turned 23. He still has a lot to learn. I think he’s learning it and picking it up faily quickly.
He has pretty good strike zone discipline but sometimes his effort level is a bit too much. But he’s learning and he’s getting better. One of the things with him is having a high ground ball rate which means he’s spinning off the ball so we try to maintain the connection…focus on the inside part of the baseball…also stay long through the zone and hit more line drives."
Overall in 2021, he still struggled with the strikeouts, getting K'd 128 times against 81 hits but you could see progress all year and in September he hit .311/.440/.635 - 1.075 OPS with 6 HRs and 13 RBIs. That helped Khalil be named as a 2021 Triple-A East League All Star.
Tom Brennan had Khalil as his #7 prospect saying: "Khalil Lee - walks a lot, gets hit by pitches a real lot (24 times in 388 PAs), and his hitting in 2021 was much improved. Was only retired in 55% of his AAA plate appearances, which explains why he had an OBP of .450. Opposing pitchers had to HATE him.
The best-ever OBP while in the Mets AAA minors for on base machine Brandon Nimmo was .423, nearly 30 points lower, and that was accomplished in the PCL hitters’ wonderland, not in the normal hitter environment Syracuse where Lee played.
Lee ought to be a frequently used Mets outfielder in 2021, either as a starter or reserve. His AAA .450 ought to translate to a 2022 Mets' .300 OBP at a minimum, I would speculate."
Prospects 1500.com has Khalil as the #12 Prospect.
Is he ready to be an MLB regular? Very possibly. If not, he is very close.
Hit | Game Power | Raw Power | Speed | Field | FV | |
30 / 40 | 35 / 50 | 55 / 60 | 55 / 55 | 45 / 55 | 45 |
KHALIL LEE TO THE RESCUE AGAIN!!!! pic.twitter.com/veLQtYVPij
— SNY (@SNYtv) May 20, 2021
Outfielder Khalil Lee (@lilswingman24) is a 2021 Triple-A East League All-Star!
— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) October 5, 2021
Lee played in 102 games for us in 2021, hitting .274 with 37 RBIs, 14 home runs, 20 doubles, and two triples.
Lee led the league and set a Syracuse franchise record with a .451 on-base percentage. pic.twitter.com/40FKCuAvgV
Khalil does it again!
— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) August 11, 2021
Home runs in back-to-back games and we’re rollin in Worcester. pic.twitter.com/L1sxMvXVRQ
Two dingers in his first two at bats yesterday for @lilswingman24. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Oj3T9JbVVb
— Mets Farm Report (@MetsFarmReport) September 13, 2021
.@lilswingman24 with a LASER. ☄️ @SyracuseMets pic.twitter.com/USptgFUeMA
— Mets Farm Report (@MetsFarmReport) September 25, 2021
.@lilswingman24 DESTROYED this baseball. 💥pic.twitter.com/BAbeQSVacN
— Mets Farm Report (@MetsFarmReport) September 17, 2021
No doubt about it. ☄️@lilswingman24 | @SyracuseMets pic.twitter.com/CkK2SIFpYU
— Mets Farm Report (@MetsFarmReport) October 1, 2021
.@lilswingman24 with the arm cannon 💪 pic.twitter.com/Wd8P2ycgjv
— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) August 22, 2021
ARE YOU SERIOUS, @lilswingman24?!?!
— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) August 26, 2021
😱 #SCtop10 pic.twitter.com/8u2e5jdm7l
14 comments:
Very nice John.
I have always been high on Lee and believe he could someday start for the Mets in Flushing.
I have seen quite a bit of speculation that Khalil Lee is a very good prospect. I hope that his progression continues, and would love to see him contribute to the success of the big league club. To date, I am not sold on his ability to do this, as my only experience with him is watching him K 13 times in 18 plate appearances with the Mets in 2021. Clearly he has more learning to do to handle MLB pitching - but as a 23 year old, there is still time.
My brother joins Paul…he is not sold on Lee.
But I am.
He’s still got a lot to prove.Let’s eye where he is in June T Syracuse.
Great stuff, John - I remain intrigued by Lee, and at his best he could prove to be a VERY interesting outfielder. Will we ever SEE his best? I guess that is the hundered million dollar question, as his current K-Rate remains incredibly scary. Let's hope the new Player Development team and the coaching staff (whomever they may end up being) can help him reduce that and end up with an exciting player.
Great video, too, Lee shows off some REAL power.
David, his K rate was certainly not good, but he walked or got HBP almost 100 times, so he was up almost 400 times for his 115 Ks. Maybe he needs another half a season to trim that down by 20% to a more palatable rate.
I like Khalil Lee and think he can become a solid MLB outfielder. But, like the rest of you, I'd like to see the strikeout rate improved.
There is some great video here showing his strengths - his glove, his arm, and a really sweet looking left handed swing.
Syracuse was a great step in 2021 after showing he wasn't ready for New York. He went down and got it done.
His September was tremendous - he has power, speed, and a great arm. Just a great pickup. He has all the tools to be a great MLB player. Hope he gets the chance.
Maybe a very nice 4th\5th OFer in the short term?
John, did you get an answer as to why the big drop in stolen bases? My guess is not a drop in speed...he may have been discouraged from stealing to avoid injury and maximize plate appearances. Or decided on that on his own (less likely). But if that is the case, I completely concur...if you have the stolen base thing down pat, why overdo it and risk injury or general wear and tear?
Not sure why the steals went down so much but as a rule, they do not emphasize the running game in the Mets organization. Even with that, Syracuse was one of the top stolen base teams in AAA for most of the year but they tailed off late.
John, as you know, I am not a big fan of acrobatics, whether it is unnecessarily running into walls, dives in the outfield, and yes, unnecessary steals. Steals lead to busted hands, knees, hamstrings, etc. He already has the skill developed - save it for the majors where it counts.
Good point Tom. More important than number of steals are when you steal - late in a game, down a run, are very valuable.
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