Korey Lee

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Korey Bryan Lee

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Biographical Information[edit]

Korey Lee was the last player selected in the first round proper of the 2019 amateur draft, by the Houston Astros with the 32nd overall pick. He was coming out of the University of California where he was primarily a catcher. He played relatively little in his first two seasons with the Golden Bears, but as a junior in 2019, he hit 15 homers and drove in 57 runs in 51 games while batting .337 to establish himself as a dangerous hitter. He had compensated for his lack of college action by playing regularly in the Northwoods League, a summer collegiate league, in both 2017 and 2018, and doing well in both of his seasons with the La Crosse Loggers. In high school, he had an unusual second sport besides baseball - water-polo.

He began his professional career in 2019 with the Tri-City ValleyCats of the New York-Penn League where in 64 games, he hit .268/.359/.371. After being forced to sit out the 2020 season because the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the minor leagues, he had another good year in 2021 when he rose all the way from High-A to Double-A to Triple-A in just one season. He started off with the Asheville Tourists, was promoted to the Corpus Christi Hooks after 29 games, and ended up with the Sugar Land Skeeters, reaching the level in mid-September. Overall, he hit .277/.340/.438 in 88 games, along with 18 doubles and 11 homers. To finish things off in that busy year, he was sent to the Arizona Fall League after the season ended.

In 2022, he spent most of the season with the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (as the team was now known), hitting .238 in 104 games, with 25 homers and 76 RBIs. He made his major league debut on July 1st, and hit .160 in 12 games. He was activated late in the postseason but did not appear in any games of the 2022 World Series in which the Astros defeated the Philadelphia Phillies. In 2023, he was back in AAA, hitting .283 in 68 games, although his power fell significantly, with just 5 homers. On July 28th, he was traded to the Chicago White Sox in return for P Kendall Graveman. He finished the season with the White Sox, appearing in 24 games and batting .077 with 1 homer and 3 RBIs.

Korey became a major league regular in 2024, albeit for the team with the worst record in American League history, as the Pale Hose finished with a paltry 41-121 record. He appeared in 125 games, displacing veteran Martin Maldonado to take over the catching job, and hit .210 with 12 homers and 37 RBIs. His OPS+ was 66 and he drew just 17 walks while striking out 122 times, so he did make a contribution to the lopsided record and he had lost his starting job by the time the 2025 season opened. He did spent the first two weeks in Chicago, going 5 for 15 in 9 games, then went on the injured list with an ankle sprain on April 10th. He was activated at the end of May, after a rehabilitation assignment in AAA. He went 2 for 13 in 5 games and was optioned to the Charlotte Knights on June 6th, not coming back to the Windy City until August 22nd. In the meantime, he hit .255 in 55 games in AAA, with 8 homers and 28 RBIs. On August 27th, he did something that no Sox player had done since 1902, which was to catch and pitch in the same game. He handled the final two innings of a 12-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals, giving up just 1 run. It may have been a rare occurrence for Chicago, but by now the job description of just about every back-up catcher in the majors included being ready to pitch mop-up relief in blow-out games, so it was not that special in the overall scheme of things.

Notable Achivements[edit]

  • Won one World Series with the Houston Astros in 2022 (he did not play in the World Series)

Further Reading[edit]

  • Sonja Chen: "Lee calls his shot, logs MLB firsts in front of family: Astros No. 2 prospect and Cal product collects 1st knock, RBI in 3-hit game", mlb.com, July 10, 2022. [1]
  • Brian McTaggart: "Vying for backstop role, Lee seeks more 'opportunities to shine'", mlb.com, January 20, 2023. [2]
  • Scott Merkin: "Lee achieves rare White Sox feat not seen since 1902!", mlb.com, August 28, 2025. [3]

Related Sites[edit]

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