COMSTOCK PARK – If you’ve spent any time around LMCU Ballpark over the last two seasons, odds are, you’ve heard Patrick Lee’s name over the PA system.
Off the field, he’s easy-going, something he credits to his Mississippi upbringing. You’re more likely to hear him talking up a teammate than you are to hear him discussing his own accomplishments. If you know Lee, that doesn’t surprise you.
On the field, the 25-year-old has posted quite the list of clutch contributions to the dominant West Michigan Whitecaps season.
We sat down to discuss his unorthodox journey to professional baseball, mechanics, mentorship and his intentionality to never take a moment or a lesson learned for granted.
Emily Waldon:
For someone who isn’t familiar with your story, why don’t you start with a little bit of your background?
Patrick Lee:
All right. My name’s Patrick Lee and I was born in Biloxi, Mississippi. I ended up going to high school in Pascagoula, Mississippi, Resurrection Catholic High School. That’s a small, private Christian school in Pascagoula and I was there from, I think pre-K3, all the way to 12th grade, me and my older brother and graduated from there. I played, you could say, every sport in the book in high school. Literally, any sport you could think of, I more than likely played it. I was blessed to be able to do that at a 1A high school, because anything bigger, the seasons overlap each other and everything like that.
After high school, I went to William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, which is like an hour and a half away from home, so still kind of close to home. Same kind of environment as high school, so it was Christian, I think Baptist maybe, college, small NAIA school. I played baseball there for five years, studied health care informational management, and got my associate and bachelor’s degrees there.
After that, that’s where the fun starts, I guess you could say. Baseball-wise, just the process of getting here to where I’m at now. I went from the draft league to independent baseball and then here, signed with the Detroit Tigers and went to Lakeland. This happened in a year. So, it was kind of weird though because coming out of the draft league, I had no offers, nobody looking at me, really. I was actually committed and signed to the Ottawa Titans in Canada to play independent baseball. Literally the week right before their independent spring training started, I got a call from Bobby Brown, who is the manager of the Ottawa Titans. He’s like, “Look, I got this guy. He came from affiliated ball. He just dropped in my hands. So, I’m going to try to call somebody for you. I’m not going to leave you out of a job.”
It was a very good thing. I definitely respect Mr. Bobby Brown. When this gets to him, respect to you. So, he called the Evansville Otters in Indiana and talked to their manager, and he got me on there, and the story writes itself after that. I was only there for three and a half weeks, and then Detroit picked me up and then I went running with the wind, I guess you could say.
Waldon:
And regarding getting picked up by the Tigers, did that require a private workout or had they been watching you from a distance?
Lee:
I guess you could say they were watching me from a distance because they didn’t ask for a private workout or anything like that. It was just what they saw. I guess they liked it and here we are.
Waldon:
Can you describe what your draft league experience is like, as far as how the league operates for someone who isn’t familiar?
Lee:
So, in the draft league, they have two different halves. The first half is for the actual prospects who are still in college and they’re eligible to get drafted. Then the second half is for what I was at the time. I just came out of college, didn’t have any more eligibility, open to play independent ball or overseas ball or affiliated ball. I got a call from David Carpenter. He had played in MLB. Carp is a good man. I’m very thankful for him. I got a call from him, and he was the coach of the West Virginia Black Bears in the draft league at the time, and I signed there in West Virginia. Morgantown’s a beautiful place to be.
Right there, it’s a good position to be in, especially if you’re going to take that next step to independent ball or affiliated ball, it kind of gets you used to the travel, used to the schedules and everything like that, and it sees where you are as, I guess, as a young man to find yourself in the sport of baseball. I mean, it gave me another opportunity to display my skills and now I’m here.
Waldon:
Last season, as you mentioned was a whirlwind. You moved all through the organization. One side of the game that I don’t feel like is talked about a lot is the mental side of that, of having to adapt quickly mentally, preparing, jumping from one place to the next. What have you learned about that process and how have you perfected it as time has gone on?
Lee:
It’s funny you ask that because every other day I was scrolling through Instagram, trying to find the motivation for the goals. I think it was, I don’t know if it was Barry Bonds, but it was definitely a Hall of Famer, and he was like, “Look, I had, I guess, a bad time mentally with hitting.”
I expected to go up there, like I did in college, most of my college career, just getting hits left and right. Then once you step in the pro ball, it’s totally different. You’ve got to know how to compartmentalize that, and mentally, meaning, your first at-bat may go the way you want it and you may get a hit, or you might not get a hit.
He was saying, “Don’t worry. You have at least four at-bats in the game. So, mentally, prepare for those. If you think about the first at-bat, already it’s gone. Mentally prepare for your next at-bat. Then if you don’t have a good at-bat, you still have two more.
Just move on with the game. You can’t just sit there and get complacent on your first two at-bats. If you are, and you didn’t do good, you never know, you might make an error in the outfield, or infield, just because you’re not thinking of the next at-bat or what’s in front of you. You know? That goes for in life as well. That’s how I compartmentalize a lot.
Waldon:
How would you describe yourself as a hitter?
Lee:
As a hitter? I would say scary.
Waldon:
Explain.
Lee:
Because I look like a dog out there. Some of my friends are pitchers and they’ve faced me before and they’re like, “Yeah, man, you intimidate me, so it’s hard to pitch to you.”
Waldon:
So, it’s the game face that gets them.
Lee:
Yeah, the game face. I’m locked in. I guess I can say I’m a dog. They don’t want to let me get on base.
Waldon:
So, confidence.
Lee:
Yeah, confidence. I got the confidence that if you let me get on base, I’ll be on third base before you know it.
Waldon:
Let’s talk defense. You’ve had a chance to play in the outfield with guys like Max Clark and Seth Stephenson. I’ve noticed whenever you’re in the outfield at the same time and one of those guys makes a crazy play, you are the one jumping up and down, ready to hype them up. How much fun has it been for you to be a part of the development journeys of your teammates?
Lee:
I love it. I love it. I give out the energy that I would want to receive. So, when they do make those plays, I’m their hype man. I love it, and I mean, it only helps the team with the hype and everything like that. So, I’m a big team guy, and being on the field with Seth (Stephenson), (Max) Clark, (Brett) Callie, (Austin) Murr, and (Jackson) Strong now, I look at it and it’s a blessing and God works in mysterious ways, honestly. It’s really crazy, I don’t know. I don’t know.
Waldon:
Does that feel surreal to you?
Lee:
It does. It definitely does.
Waldon:
As you’ve gotten further into your career, another wave of players has come in. Jackson Strong is your biggest fan and doesn’t miss an opportunity to talk about how much he appreciates your example. How cool has that been for you to move into more of that mentorship role with some of these younger guys around the organization?
Lee:
I definitely feel like it’s God speaking through me. I don’t mean to put out Jackson Strong like this, but he really didn’t know how to take care of his arm and long toss the proper way. That’s something I learned on my own by playing collegiate summer ball, and with draft league.
I feel like it’s God speaking through me, and any way I can help, I always do. I always put out that extra effort to help somebody, especially somebody who is a little younger and is going through what I’m going through now at this level, but he’s 21 and playing at this level. It’s definitely eye-opening. I just keep my arms open. Whatever I give, God’s going to make sure I receive it.
Waldon:
What are some of the biggest ways you’ve grown personally from a defensive standpoint?
Lee:
Mentally. Well, I’ll say mentally, but meaning like being a little smarter with the baseball once you get it in your hands. Knowing where the base runners are, knowing if you have a slow guy on second, and if the ball is hitting a gap, where are you going with it, you know? Just small things like that. And I have Arnie Beyeler, our outfield coordinator helping me out a lot.
He runs me through situations and quizzes me on it, and now, since Timmy (Garland) is up here now, he’s starting to quiz me on it as well, and I love it. I love the challenge, and it’s only going to get better. I feel like something that is a lot better this year is knowing what to do with the ball once it’s in my hands.
Waldon:
So, would you say it’s a matter of always staying one step ahead of the actual pace of the game?
Lee:
Correct, correct. Having a plan before each pitch is gone. Not just the sequence of a batter, but knowing each pitch, and knowing what you’re going to do with it. Stick to your left, to your right, is it right at you, you need to know all of that.
Waldon:
Would you say it’s almost a mental muscle memory type of thing?
Lee:
Yes, ma’am. That’s why when we take batting practice in the field, they tell you, “Play it like a game situation and put imaginary runners on bases.” Practice makes perfect, as I say. In practice, play it like you’re in the game, so in the games, it’s muscle memory.
Waldon:
I want to touch on hitting mechanics. Any changes you’ve made to your lower half, upper half rotation, load, timing, any adjustments there?
Lee:
Honestly, this year has been just like a trial and error at the plate because mentally I’m still trying to do what I did in college, and it’s just not working completely. So, I’ve worked with toe taps, I’ve worked with turning my front and my back here, a lot of stuff.
Waldon:
Just checking off the list.
Lee:
Literally, literally. Now, I’m being a hover with my front foot, and I feel that’s probably the best feeling I’ve had throughout my career. So, hopefully the numbers jump up before playoffs. I’m in a trial-and-error stage right now, so when playoffs do come, I’ll be hot and ready.
Waldon:
Describe the hover to me.
Lee:
So, I used to just turn my front foot in to create a kind of a coil in my back hip to go in slow, but when I go low and turn my front foot in on that coil, it stops me. So, when he pitches it, I’m going from a dead stop to swinging 100 miles an hour, which is messing up my timing and my eyesight, seeing the ball a little longer and everything like that.
With my hover, I’m getting on my back leg early in that coil. My front foot is just hovering, until I get the timing of it. I place my front foot down, and I’m going. It gives me my forward movement going toward the center of the field instead of if I was toe-tapping, it would be my front shoulder just flying out, instead of staying straight to the middle of the field.
It feels good. Yesterday, I worked on it in the cage a lot and I use it a little bit in the game, just to trying to get comfortable with it, right? What is it they say about how being uncomfortable makes you comfortable, something like that?
Waldon:
I was talking with Seth Stephenson earlier this year when he was going through some swing reinvention and something he told me was, “I’ve accepted the fact that it may not work for a while.” But he said, “It’s the process of getting there that I’m focused on.” How would that statement apply to how your season’s gone so far this year?
Lee:
That’s hitting the nail on the head. That’s my whole season, for this whole season, for sure. He’s right. He’s right. You can’t be worried about what didn’t work that game. Just trust the process. You’ve got to trust the process.
Waldon:
Let’s talk about this Whitecaps team. The roster obviously looks a lot different than it did when the season started, with the addition of a lot of new faces. What has it been about the culture here in West Michigan that’s made this historic season so special?
Lee:
Everything is working right now. When you look out here, that’s the reason. It’s beautiful here. West Michigan, Grand Rapids. It’s a place that everybody has to come visit, for sure. The vibe, the people here, the staff, everything is just beautiful, great. I mean, there’s no reason for me not to like West Michigan.
Waldon:
So, you’re telling people they should probably come out to the playoffs?
Lee:
Yes! Come to the playoffs.
Chris Brown 
Rogelio Castillo 
Jerry McKennan