By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

Former Resurrection standout Patrick Lee is settling into pro baseball quite nicely.

The 24-year-old Lee was signed to his first contract with a Major League Baseball organization recently after spending the past five years as a member of the baseball team at William Carey University.

“He’s kind of the trendsetter for Resurrection baseball,” veteran head coach Johnny Olsen, who coached Lee at RCS, said. “He’s the first of that group to get a shot like this. He was there at the start of all of the success that program has enjoyed recently. I’m so proud and happy for him that he got this chance.”

During his senior season at William Carey in 2023, Lee led the Crusaders to the NAIA World Series in Idaho after earning a 27-4 victory over Ave Maria (Fla.) in the Hattiesburg Regional Tournament championship round.
Lee hit .384, which was second best on the team, and he also swatted a team-high 15 home runs as the Crusaders finished the season at impressive 49-11. He also recorded 17 doubles, four triples and drove in 63 runs his senior season.

Lee also hit .389 as a junior at Carey.
Despite not getting drafted, Lee’s success on the collegiate level earned him a spot in the Independent Frontier League as a member of the Evansville Otters. But his stay in Indiana would be short-lived, as within a month Lee had his contract purchased by the Detroit Tigers.

The 5-foot-10, 180-pound Lee hit the ground running to begin the current campaign. His .410 batting average was in the top 10 in the Frontier League to begin the year.
Lee had accumulated 16 hits so far this season with the Otters, with four doubles, a triple and three home runs. His 16 RBIs were eighth best in the Frontier League. He has walked 12 times with just nine strikeouts. Lee was a perfect 10-10 on the base paths – the second most stolen bases in the Frontier League at the time his contract was purchased.
Now, with the Detroit organization, he immediately reported to Class A league action at Lakeland, Fla., and as a member of the Lakeland Flying Tigers in the Florida State League once again it took Lee no time at all to garner attention for his play on the diamond.
In just 21 games with Lakeland, he hit .308 and registered 20 hits including two doubles and two home runs with seven RBIs and 13 stolen bases.

Those numbers helped earn him Florida State League Player of the Week honors for the span of June 17-23, as In five games he had seven hits in 20 at bats (.350 batting average), five runs scored, five RBI, six walks with a double and a home run and four stolen bases. He also elevated his stock enough with the Tigers organization that he was promoted the next day to Detroit’s High A affiliate the West Michigan Whitecaps.
Lee has been with the Whitecaps for just over a week, and has started all eight games with a home run and eight total bases collected.
As a senior at Resurrection, Lee garnered the attention of collegiate coaches and scouts earning First Team Class 1A All-State status by hitting .577 with three homers and 41 RBIs with 21 stolen bases.

“He was always the best athlete on the field no matter who we played,” Olsen concluded. “He could have played for just about any team in any classification in the state, but he stayed with us. He’s just a quality kid and an outstanding athlete. He was always fun to watch.”