Zach Lee was selected #28 overall in the 2010 Rule 4 draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers but was regarded as one of the top high school pitching prospects by many scouts; some scouts even ranking his raw talent above Jameson Taillon. So, why did he drop?
It turns out that Zach Lee was even a better high school quarterback and after being recruited by dozens of colleges, Lee signed with LSU. He had already started spring two-a-day practices when word hit that the Dodgers had picked Lee with pick #28 in the June amateur Rule 4 draft. After a lot of negotiating, Lee finally signed for a franchise record $5.25M draft bonus.
While the 6’ 3”, 190 pound Lee was demonstrating a mid 90’s fastball and a nasty breaking ball in the fall instructional league, he’s still got a long way to go. As a two-sport high school athlete, Lee really didn’t focus on his pitching and in fact has admitted that his mechanics are self -taught. You can look at this two-ways – 1) Uh oh, this guy is heading for arm trouble or 2) with some instruction, the sky could be the limit. Obviously the Dodgers believe it’s the latter and after the signing, many scouts are saying the same thing.
With the recent success of Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsley, the Dodgers have demonstrated they can groom prospects quickly into front of the rotation starters. Many Dodgers faithful are hoping that Lee will follow a similar accelerated path to the major leagues that Kershaw had. As a reminder, after a brief stint in Rookie Ball in the year he was drafted, Kershaw started 2007 in low-A Great Lakes before ending the season in AA. In 2008, after 61.1 innings in AA, he was promoted to the Majors.
Zach Lee is a player that baseball fans and fantasy baseball owners alike need to pay close attention during the 2011 season. Concentrate on the K/9 rate as well as the HR/9 rate and don’t worry as much with the walk rate. For raw talents, this is the last thing to mature. It’s only been in the last year that Clayton Kershaw has put that element together.
Zach Lee will make his major league debut this spring playing in Single A Great Lakes.
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