May 25th, 2015 at 6:00 am 
by Harold Uhlman Right-hander Zach Lee was the Dodgers first round selection in the 2010 First Year Player Draft. Thought to be unsignable, Dodger fans will remember the drama around the signing as the Plano, Texas native had committed to Louisiana State University to quarterback the Tigers football team.
Lee, now 23 years of age, is in his fifth season of professional baseball having made stops along the way with the A level Great Lakes Loons, advanced A level Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, AA Chattanooga Lookouts and the AAA Albuquerque Isotopes.
His best season was with the Lookouts in 2013. On the year he was 10-10 with a 3.22 ERA in Double A Chattanooga with a career-best 22.5% strikeout rate and a career-best 6.0% walk rate. He struck out 131 in 142.2 innings and walked 35.
It was expected Lee would continue to grow in 2014 with the AAA Albuquerque Isotopes. During spring training Dodgers manager Don Mattingly gave his assessment of Lee.
“What we like about Zach is that he’s always in control. He does everything well. He’s going to get better as he goes because he’s a guy who locates and changes speeds,” Mattingly said. “As we starting getting into scouting reports and finding the holes, he’s going to have weapons to get there. He’s a guy who is developing. You see Zach and you see a guy who does everything well.”
His 2014 season did not go as well as expected as he posted a 5.38 ERA and 1.53 WHIP with reduced strikeouts and increased walks. Many attribute his disappointing year to pitching in Isotopes Park which is not very forgiving. But – that was then and this is now.
In his second AAA season, now with the OKC Dodgers, Lee has returned to form with an ERA of 2.89 – good for seventh-best in the Pacific Coast League heading into Sunday’s game.
In Sunday’s matinee game, Lee was matched up against left-hander Darin Gorski of the Las Vegas 51s and arguably the best hitting lineup in the PCL. He started the game with eight consecutive outs before giving up a single to right field by Gorski. The hit by his counterpart was the hardest hit ball by a 51s hitter through the first five innings. Runs were also at a premium for the Dodgers although they did manage to scratch out a run in the first inning and another on a ground ball single by Scott Schebler in the fourth innings.
Dodgers 2010 first-round draft pick Zach Lee may have taken another step closer to making his MLB debut with the Dodgers after Sunday’s 2-0 win over the Las Vegas 51s. Lee is now 5-3 on the season with a 2.52 ERA. (Photo credit – Kathleen Flynn)
Former Dodgers pitcher Jerry Reuss and now a Las Vegas 51s announcer took over the microphone in the middle innings of the game and commented on Lee’s mound presence.
”He uses his fastball to both sides of the plate and pitches inside effectively,” said Reuss. “He mixes his pitches well with pitches moving late.”
Reuss also commented that in a conversation with OKC pitching coach Scott Radinsky, the former Dodger reliever almost complained that pitching inside is becoming a lost art. Radinsky mentioned that he has to constantly remind his pitchers to pitch inside. Zach Lee apparently was listening.
Reuss further touched upon what he perceived to be Lee’s game plan.
“He seems like he has an idea of what to do and is one or two pitches ahead,” said Reuss.
During the game Lee fielded two come backers towards the mound with relative ease. Reuss’s observation was that he finishes his delivery in a good fielding position – almost like an infielder.
Going into the seventh inning Lee had given up only four hits. And although he had struck out only three hitters – a relatively small number for the hard-throwing right-hander – he walked but one. To that point only one Las Vegas runner had reached second base.
Lee completed his day’s work in the seventh inning requiring only seven pitches to induce three infield outs. He threw a total of 88 pitches with 59 of them being strikes. By the end of his day he had lowered his ERA to 2.52. The altitude in Las Vegas definitely was not a factor in his game on Sunday as the 51’s hitters spend the day hitting mostly ground balls and pop ups.
There was a possibility Lee might have come out for the eighth inning but he was pulled for a pinch hitter when the Dodgers loaded the bases in the top of the inning with two out. Pinch hitter Andy Wilkins then struck out to end the OKC rally leaving Lee handing on to a tenuous 2-0 lead.
Former Dodger Ramon Troncoso took over for Lee in the bottom of the eighth inning allowing no runs and one hit.
OKC right-hander David Aardsma, a former MLB closer for the Seattle Mariners, came in to try to salt the game away for the 51s in the bottom of the ninth inning. His task was not an easy one with the heart of the 51’s order due up – 2B T.J. Rivera, 1B Brooks Conrad and LF Brandon Allen. Former Dodger prospect third baseman Alex Castellanos was waiting for another chance to get his first hit of the day.
Aardsma was working for the third straight day looking for a third straight save. He quickly proceeded to give up a hit and a walk with none out. His experience definitely showed as he collected his league-leading 14th save easily retiring the next three hitters to preserve Lee’s fifth win of the season.
The OKC Dodgers are now 29-13 on the season and a full 7 games up on the Iowa Cubs in the American Northern Division of the Pacific Coast League.
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It has to be more probable now that he will get a shot with the Carlos Frias disaster yesterday (when does that guy develop anything off-speed?) but if they are still concerned about service time, maybe not. Guys like Lee take a lot of time to develop because they are not simply relying on speed to get guys out, they are relying on pitching strategy as Reuss mentioned of pitching inside and refining the art of constantly moving the hitter’s plane of sight. It looks like he is progressing nicely in that regard. Hope he gets a shot soon as I felt this year that Frias was a ticking time bomb, which as we saw unfortunately exploded yesterday.
As noted in the Austin Barnes article, Mattingly is not going to give up on Carlos Frias for one bad outing – nor should he.
While we all are waiting for the eventual arrival of Zach Lee to Dodger Stadium, do not be lulled into thinking that he will not have his “ticking time bomb” moments too. Heaven knows he has already had many of them at every level of the minor leagues; far more than Carlos Frias ever did.
As Mattingly noted, “It can happen to anyone” – even to a guy named Clayton Kershaw who failed at the absolute worst possible time… twice.
While Carlos Frias is certainly no Clayton Kershaw, neither is Zach Lee. Bad outings happen to everyone and need to be accepted along with the great outings.
It’s all part of the game.
I think for Lee the encouraging part is his progression. Now if he can maintain it is another question.
He is not an overpowering strikeout pitcher – 42 K’s in 53.2 innings. He has cut down on his walks with 12 thus far in 2015. Five of those came in one game against the Omaha Storm Chasers. That leaves seven walks in his other 48.2 innings. He won that game with Omaha 5-0.
He now seems to be pitching with purposeful pitches rather than trying just to throw hard. Will he have his awkward moments? He will for sure and had quite a few in 2014. Because he is not a power pitcher able to overwhelm hitters with his fastball and he can find trouble by just being a little off. I am not comparing him to Don Sutton in any way but Sutton fell way short of a strikeout an inning.
A quick check of Frias’ minor league stats show he had his share of forgettable minor league moments. However, his is a success story which will get better with a little better pitching variety. Who in 2012 picked him to even make it to the Dodgers? Who knew he would throw 97 mph?
You are right that he was sacrificed and had to take one for the team as he started to derail. That was unfortunate but is also part of the game. I certainly hope he rebounds in his next start. That being said I also hope Zach Lee gets a taste of MLB this year.