The Tigers promoted Hao-Yu Lee on April 17, 2026. It marked Lee’s first time with the big club and was set to make his MLB debut on the same day. It also marked an interesting journey for Lee, once a Phillies prospect, and now a Tiger.
A Look at Lee
Almost three years ago, the Tigers acquired prospect Hao-Yu Lee from the Phillies in the trade that sent then-Detroit pitcher Michael Lorenzen to Philadelphia. At the time, Lee was an A-ball prospect, albeit one who had plenty of upside and posted a .824 OPS in the Minors the year before.
Two years ago, Lee hit 12 home runs and stole 16 bases across 87 contests. Last year, he was able to get into 126 contests, and picked up 14 home runs, 45 extra-base hits, and also tallied 22 stolen bases for Triple-A Toledo.
It was an interesting year down in Toledo for Lee against advanced pitching. The pluses were the power and walks. Lee had a Barrel% of 9.2%, as we noted in our Detroit farm review from last season. Additionally, he laid off a lot of pitches outside of the zone (24.8% Chase%), and walked 65 times over 579 plate appearances.
His whiff rate on sliders/sweepers was just a tick over 30%.
But on the same token, he had a Whiff% just slightly above 18% on in-zone pitches, around the Triple-A median. He was also below the league median in swing-and-miss rate on fastballs (26.4%).
On the heels of what was a good, yet unspectacular season, the Tigers still protected him from the Rule 5 Draft in November 2025. He was selected to the WBC for Chinese Taipei but was hurt and did not play. He started 2026 on the IL and only played nine games (six in AAA) before his promotion.
His approach now, compared to 2025, has changed slightly. He was slightly open and crouched in his stance. But in his brief stint of play in 2026, Lee stood more upright, squared, and then got low before letting loose.
Defensively, Lee saw time at second and third down in the Minors. Half of his games in the field this season were at third, and the other half at second.
Analysis
When Lee was promoted, the Tigers placed infielder and utilityman Zach McKinstry on the IL. Lee will start his MLB career at third base, and the fact that he can play second and third is very notable. McKinstry spent almost all of his time split between those positions, and also split time at third with Kevin McGonigle.
No, Lee is not the kind of impact prospect that McGonigle is. However, Lee does have the potential to be a 15-20 home run hitter at the MLB level. Whether he gets there very much remains to be seen.
But on the surface level, Lee feels like a fit for what the Tigers’ front office has been trying to build over the past few years: get players who have some pop, get on base, and play multiple positions. Lee checked all of those boxes in the Minors.
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