One can only imagine the excitement that Dodgers 2010 first-round draft pick Zach Lee felt when he got the call that he had finally been called up to the big leagues. It was, after all, the call that he has been waiting for his entire life. But under the circumstances – that being that the Dodgers were allowed to add a 26th man to their roster because of Friday night’s “lights out” snafu at Nationals Park forcing the game to be suspended and resumed on Saturday – it’s probably safe to say that Lee’s excitement is/was short lived.

It only stands to reason that the 23-year-old Plano, Texas native has already been (or soon will be) optioned back to Triple-A Oklahoma City after Saturday afternoon’s one and a half games against the NL East-leading Washington Nationals – but hey, at least he can say that’s he made it to The Show, and no one can ever take that away from him.

Zach Lee was officially a Dodger on Saturday, July 18, 2015 – even though he never made it into a game.

The question that most Dodger fans are struggling with is why it took Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi this long to bring Lee up. He is 6-3 with a team-best 2.34 ERA in his 11 starts at OKC where he limited opposing hitters to a .250 batting average. He was shut down on June 3 after experiencing a tingling sensation in the fingers of his right hand and flew to Los Angeles where he underwent an MRI and was examined by team physician Dr. Neil ElAttrache. And while a definitive answer as to the cause of this rather unusual injury was never made public, Lee resumed pitching in Arizona, Rancho Cucamonga and returned to Oklahoma City. His last start was on July 11 where he went five innings allowing only one run on six hits with a walk and a strikeout to earn the win over Colorado Springs.

One has to believe that Lee will be the next OKC pitcher called up should the Dodgers need a spot starter anytime soon. (Photo credit – Cameron Spencer)

If Lee can continue putting up these type of numbers and, even more so, if he can stay healthy, it is quite possible – perhaps even probably – that he will soon be called back up to The Show.

…and that is Zach Lee what Dodger fans want.