On Sunday, the third-year Mustang shortstop was the eighth player selected in the 2022 Major League Draft, chosen by the Minnesota Twins.
Only three other former Mustangs were drafted in the first round, led by catcher John Orton, chosen by the then-California Angels as the 25th overall selection in 1987.
Both outfielder Mitch Haniger (38th overall selection, Brewers, 2012) and southpaw Garrett Olson (48th, Orioles, 2005) were compensatory first-round picks.
The eighth selection in this year’s draft has an assigned signing bonus value of $5,439.500 signing bonus.
Watching television with family and friends from his parents’ house in the Edna Valley, Lee said it has been a long process to get to where he is today, overcoming injuries that forced him to miss his sophomore season in high school as well as most of his first year at Cal Poly.
“The feeling was awesome when I heard my name,” Lee said. “I’m super excited, especially because my family was with me along with a lot of people who were part of my community base. It was a great experience.
“It feels great to get drafted,” Lee added. “I have put in all the work, more than anyone else, so I’m grateful to have the opportunity to play at the next level.”
“It was very emotional, but I am very happy for him, added his father, Cal Poly head coach Larry Lee. “Now he can get started on another chapter in his career.
“He’s put in a tremendous amount of work throughout the whole time frame, starting when he was very young through his teenager years, high school and college,” added the coach. “He turned a major injury in his freshman year into a positive by getting stronger and has a passion for the game, how the game is played and plays to win, which is extremely important.”
The father and son had not heard much from Minnesota prior to the draft.
“I think they were kind of assuming I wouldn’t get to them,” said Brooks Lee.
“It was one of the teams that there just wasn’t a lot of communication as the process went on,” added Larry Lee. “I’m just happy for him. Now he can go out and continue to do what he does and hopefully get a chance to play at the Major League level in a short period of time.”
“Yes, I was surprised,” Larry Lee added. “Behind the scenes, sometimes you know a few days before the draft, sometimes the morning of, but Brooks’ advisor said he really had no feel of how the draft would go and absolutely no feel about Minnesota.
“Minnesota got somebody they can build around. Brooks has a chance to do something special and he’s never going to be satisfied with what he has done as a player,” said the father. “That’s a sign of someone who wants to be great.
“As a family, it’s been a very emotional ride, culminating with today’s draft. “We’re all happy and now we know what organization he’s going to be in. He wants to get on the field as soon as possible and start playing again.”
The draft is being held at XBox Plaza in Los Angeles in conjunction with the All-Star Game, which will be played Tuesday at Dodger Stadium.
Two rounds along with the compensatory and competitive balance rounds will be completed Sunday, with rounds three through 10 on Monday and the remaining 10 rounds Tuesday. The Baltimore Orioles had the No. 1 pick, followed by the Arizona Diamondbacks, Texas Rangers, Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington Nationals.Lee has been working and waiting for this moment ever since his freshman year at San Luis Obispo High School in 2016. The third-year Cal Poly shortstop could have entered the draft in 2019 out of high school, predicted as a late first-round pick by several media outlets and ranked as the 38th best prospect.
Instead, Brooks pulled his name out, turned down what surely would have been a lucrative contract, some say around $3 million, and honored his commitment, which he made early in his prep career, to play for his father, Larry Lee, at Baggett Stadium. Despite taking himself out of the draft, Brooks was chosen by the San Francisco Giants in the 35th round.
Slotted as a top-five pick by most prognosticators — D1Baseball.com had him No. 1 among college players, MLB.com says No. 5 overall, Keith Law of The Athletics predicts No. 4, CBS Sports and Athlon Sports posits No. 2, ESPN MLB Insider Kiley McDaniel and Baseball America suggest No. 7 and BaseballProspectJournal.com has him at No. 3 — Brooks will be watching the draft from his parents’ living room couch on Sunday.
Brooks has a lifelong connection with the Orioles — he was named after Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson, an 18-time All-Star and 16-time Gold Glove winner nicknamed the vacuum cleaner at the hot corner.
Brooks earned five All-America awards since the 2022 season ended, including first-team nods from Collegiate Baseball and the American Baseball Coaches Association. He was a first-team pick on two of the six All-American teams in 2021 as well.
Named winner of the Brooks Wallace Award as the nation’s top collegiate shortstop last month, Brooks hit .357 in his second full season at Cal Poly with 25 doubles, 15 home runs and 55 RBIs. He led the Big West in hits, walks, doubles, home runs, runs scored, RBIs, slugging percentage and total bases and was second in batting average and on-base percentage.
Fifth in the nation in doubles, Lee produced hitting streaks of 19 and 12 games in 2022 and led the Mustangs with 26 multiple-hit games and 16 multiple-RBI contests, becoming only the second player in Big West history to earn the conference’s field player of the year award twice. Mark Kotsay accomplished the same feat in 1995 and 1996.
Brooks, who missed nearly all of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season following knee and hamstring surgeries, earned 2021 co-Big West Player of the Year honors by hitting .342 with 10 home runs, 57 RBIs and a school-record 27 doubles He further solidified his bona fides as one of the top college bats in the class by hitting very well both for Team USA and in the Cape Cod League last summer.
Also a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy this spring, Brooks produced numerous memorable moments as a Mustang, including two grand slams, both against Cal State Fullerton in 2021 and 2022, breaking the single-season doubles record last year and his one and only four-hit game versus Harvard in early April.
Brooks, however, recalls his first hit as a Mustang as his top Mustang highlight — a two-run pinch-hit double against Baylor after recovering from a serious offseason leg injury that required surgery to repair. The 2020 season was shut down four days after the hit due to the pandemic.
Cal Poly’s only three second-round draftees were pitcher Spender Howard (45th overall selection, Phillies, 2017), southpaw Matt Imhof (47th, Phillies, 2014) and outfielder Grant Desme (74th, Athletics, 2007).
Cal Poly has had 162 players selected in the MLB Draft, including nine who were drafted twice. A total of 44 Mustangs have been drafted in the first 10 rounds, pitcher Jimmy Shull chosen twice. Twenty former Cal Poly players have reached the Major Leagues, the last 11 under Larry Lee in his 20 seasons at the helm of the Mustangs.