The past five seasons of Philadelphia Phillies baseball has been one of the most prosperous eras in franchise history, despite their failure to capture a World Series. The team’s core has been built mostly through free agency, with a few shrewd trades mixed in. Unfortunately, they haven’t been very successful in developing homegrown hitters, and one of the promising prospects they did have at one point, Hao-Yu Lee, recently made history after the Phils traded him away.
Travel back in time to 2023 and the Phillies were fresh off of a Cinderella run to the National League pennant. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski added a pair of big name free agents the previous winter in Trea Turner and Taijuan Walker as the club looked to get back to the Fall Classic and finish the deal.
When the trade deadline rolled around that year, Dombrowski called up the Detroit Tigers to acquire swingman Michael Lorenzen as the missing piece for the Phils’ vaunted pitching staff. The price was well-regarded infield prospect Hao-Yu Lee.
The Phillies had signed Lee as an international free agent back in 2021 out of Taiwan, far from a baseball powerhouse nation, but a locale that has put 19 players in the majors to this point. Throughout his three seasons in the Phillies’ system, Lee made a name for himself as a well-rounded hitter with decent instincts who could play passable defense at multiple infield positions.
At the time of his trade to the Tigers, Lee had ascended to be ranked fifth among all Phillies prospects. The diminutive infielder didn’t slow down in Detroit’s system, ranking in the top 10 of Tigers prospects in 2025 before making his major league debut in April of this year.
The 23-year-old has held his own during his first big league season, posting a .753 OPS in 107 contests split between second and third base. On Friday, Lee clubbed his 10th home run of the season in Detroit's game against the Chicago White Sox, making him the first Taiwanese-born player in MLB history to hit 10 or more dingers in a season. In fact, Lee’s 10 longballs have already gotten him halfway to Yu Chang’s total of 20 for the most career dingers by a Taiwanese player.
Tonight, Hao-Yu Lee became the first ever player from Taiwan to hit 10 home runs in a season in MLB history https://t.co/wDzZwdOqX2
— Jeff Duda (@INTLBaseball24) September 19, 2026
Is Hao-Yu Lee going to become the next Asian superstar in the mold of Shohei Ohtani? Most likely not. However, he is proving himself to be a solid right-handed contributor at the plate who can cover multiple spots in the field. Interestingly enough, the Phillies have been trying to find just such a player over the past few years.
Every Phillies fan can remember the ill-fated free agent signings of right-handed utilitymen Josh Harrison and Whit Merrifield. Dombrowski attempted to fill that spot internally this season with youngsters Otto Kemp and Felix Reyes, both of whom were removed from the big league roster before the end of May.
History-making Hao-Yu Lee would be a very nice piece for the 2026 Phillies to have
Perhaps more importantly, longtime third baseman Alec Bohm is slated to reach free agency at season’s end, and it appears best for all sides to part ways at that point. Highly-rated prospect Aidan Miller has missed practically all of this year due to injury, and aside from him, there aren’t any good internal options to replace Bohm at the hot corner (assuming Bryson Stott shifts back to second base).
Hao-Yu Lee would come in quite handy for the Phillies in this situation, but alas he’s not around anymore. So what did the team actually get in exchange for parting with him? Lorenzen started his Phillies tenure on a high note with a no-hitter in his second start, but things went downhill from there. All told, he provided 47 ⅓ innings of work with an ugly 5.51 ERA down the stretch before appearing in two postseason games as a mop-up man. And with that, Lorenzen’s time in Philly was over.
Was it worth it? Perhaps. The Phillies did need some stability in their rotation that Lorenzen was able to provide, despite his middling numbers. Does that team reach the doorstep of the World Series without him? Who knows.
Ultimately, the 2023 Phillies went down in flames due to plenty of factors that had nothing to do with Michael Lorenzen or Hao-Yu Lee. In light of that, it sure would be nice for the Phillies of today to have a talented right-hander hitter for years to come.
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