Cal Poly standout expected to be among first MLB draft picks. Here’s how he’s preparing
Brooks Lee made headlines in 2019 when he passed up a chance at a Top 50 draft selection after his senior season at San Luis Obispo. High School — forgoing the potential to earn a $2 million signing bonus.
Three years later, after choosing to play baseball at Cal Poly, Lee is a stronger, more mature person and player, according to his father, Larry Lee, who has coached the Mustangs for the past two decades.
As Brooks prepares for the Major League Baseball draft, which takes place Sunday through Tuesday, he’s being touted by many as the best college draft prospect in the country.
Lee, who stands 6 feet, 2 inches tall, and weighs 200 pounds, has developed into his frame — gaining significant muscle and overall strength since his freshman year. And he is likely to be called among the first names.
Most mock drafts project him to be picked between No. 1 and No. 5 overall, with some giving him an outside chance of being selected No. 1 overall by the Baltimore Orioles. A top pick would put him in the company of all-time baseball greats Alex Rodriguez, Chipper Jones and Ken Griffey Jr., who were all chosen No. 1.
Lee stands to earn a $6 to $8 million signing bonus, depending on how high he lands in the Top 5.
Did he make the right decision to chose college over the pros out of high school?
“Definitely,” Lee told the Tribune. “It worked out every single way that I wanted to, especially with the season and individual stats and playing for my dad. So everything worked out.”
“It’s all great,” he added. “I always have to remind myself, it’s not about the money. It’s about enjoying the game.”
Larry Lee said his son is much better prepared for what’s to come having waited for the draft.
“We made sure that decision wasn’t based on money (out of high school),” Larry Lee said. “So he turned down a substantial amount. But we didn’t think it was the right thing for an 18-year-old to go into (pro ball). And if you go to three years of college, not only do you get educated, you just have three more years to mature as a person.”
Brooks is likely to be picked the highest picked out of any San Luis Obispo County player ever.
His uncle, Terry Lee, was selected No. 19 overall out of SLO High by the San Francisco Giants in 1974.
Elsewhere on the Central Coast, Roy Howell was drafted No. 4 overall in 1972 by the Texas Rangers out of Lompoc High School.
“We don’t know where Brooks will go in the draft, but he doesn’t care,” Larry Lee said. “He just wants to go to a quality organization that he can flourish in and hopefully get to the major league level.”
Brooks Lee grew up around Cal Poly baseball
Brooks Lee grew up around the Cal Poly baseball program, and envisioned himself playing one day in a Mustangs jersey. When the time came to chose pro or the green and gold, he knew he what he wanted to do and didn’t look back, he said.
Brooks Lee is coming off of a stellar sophomore season in which he hit .357 with 15 home runs, 55 RBI, 56 runs and 46 walks, leading the Big West in most hitting categories.
Brooks, a switch hitter, won the Brooks Wallace Award given by the College Baseball Foundation to the nation’s top collegiate shortstop.
In his first full season in 2021 as a Mustang, he hit .342 with 10 home runs and 57 RBI, along with 48 runs (Brooks redshirted as a freshman due to a leg injury that required surgery).
“I just got stronger and more fit every single year,” Brooks Lee said. “I feel a huge difference from high school until now. I’ve just gotten a lot stronger and a lot more consistent.”
Larry Lee said he never pushed his son into baseball as a young kid, but he was drawn to the game.
Brooks Lee was smaller than some of the other kids at the youth level, his father said. Then he developed into his body and started to excel with his know-how and solid fundamentals when his strength caught up.
“I always took the approach where I never wanted to be overbearing, and I’d give him some advice and back away and let some time go by and give him some more stuff,” Larry Lee said.
Lee said his son’s baseball IQ has helped him.
“The better players just have a habit of being able to slow the game down as much as possible and they anticipate what their opponent is trying to do,” Larry Lee said. “And in talks, even in high school, he told me some things that I don’t even hear from college level players.”
Lee said that his son will be his own best coach when he’s in the minors.
That’s because Brooks Lee has learned to understand the mechanics of his body and what he needs to do to be successful, his father said.
“When he was with me in college, he knew so much that I allowed him to make his own adjustments,” Larry Lee said.
Lee said his son’s impact at Cal Poly was great for kids in particular.
“After every game, he would sign autographs,” Lee said, adding that as many as 200 people would line up after the game to get his son’s signature. “I told him that it’s really important to have a smile, win or lose, because you’re going to make lasting impressions on young kids.”
Shortstop prepares for the pros
In advance of the draft, Brooks Lee said that he has been working out, taking some batting practice and fielding ground balls.
He has had talks already with “the Orioles, Diamondbacks, Rangers, and Pirates,” he said.
Those teams, in order, have the first four picks in the draft.
Lee said he anticipates the adjustment to the minor leagues will entail some harder thrown pitches and the ball coming off the bat with more velocity on ground balls in the field.
Having batted .405 in the summer Cape Cod League, often considered the hub for the best amateur talent in the country, Lee isn’t sweating the adjustment.
Like in the minors, the Cape uses wooden bats.
“From the pitching side of the pitch, it’s going be thrown a lot harder,” Lee said. “I hopefully will get used to it pretty quickly. And then I should be alright. I hit well (in the Cape), so I think there’s nothing I won’t get used to.”
He may end up playing second or third base, according to some scouting reports which project a better fit at another position, though Lee will strive to stay at shortstop.
“‘I’ll definitely get sent out to shortstop no matter what,” Lee said. “I’ll be a shortstop and if someone needs me to play second or third or anywhere at the big league level, then I’m happy to, but right now I’ll be a shortstop.”
Once he arrives in the MLB, Lee said that he’ll likely put some of his newly earned money into real estate, his mother Liz Lee’s profession, and consult with his financial advisor.
“I’ve got my mom who has a very good background in real estate,” Brooks said. “I’m sure I’ll splurge on something that costs a little more than I usually spend.”
Lee said he has put the time in to deserve the monetary reward and recognizes his opportunity while carrying an internal confidence about his achievements thus far.
“I’ve worked extremely hard,” Lee said. “I feel like I deserve every penny. And then when I keep working, I feel like I deserve a lot more.”
But his main consideration will be getting to the top of the game, with a goal to rise quickly to the show.
“It just depends on team but if I keep hitting like I did here at Cal Poly, then I should probably be up (in the MLB) in a couple of years, maybe a year and a half,” Lee said.
Larry Lee said that the older generation of baseball players has been particularly supportive of his son’s development as a young player who now is being interviewed by the likes of Harold Reynolds and the MLB Network.
“I had so many of the old school guys that were my age or older who I went to school with or who went to school with my brothers,” Lee said. “I’ve emotional talks with that group and they’ve expressed how proud they are to have somebody represent them.”
Brooks Lee isn’t the only Cal Poly player who’s expected to drafted by a pro team later this week.
Mustangs pitcher Drew Thorpe is projected to be picked within the two or three rounds; Prospects Live has him going No. 69. Thorpe set a Cal Poly record with 149 strikeouts this season and finished with a 10-1 record.
Dylan Beavers, a Mission Prep graduate from Paso Robles who played baseball at Cal Berkeley, is also anticipated to be selected within the top three rounds. Beavers had 17 home runs, 50 RBI and a .291 batting average as a junior for the Bears.
This story was originally published July 13, 2022 at 9:00 AM.
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