Baseball America believes Lee will be the No. 3 overall selection in July’s annual draft.
In addition, sophomore right-hander Drew Thorpe is No. 36 among juniors and 71st overall by Perfect Game.
Last month, the web site CollegeBaseball.info ranked Lee as the No. 1 pick among eligible college players in the 2022 draft. He was ranked No. 5 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Draft prospects list, No. 4 overall by Perfect Game and No. 1 by BaseballProspectJournal.com. Last week, MLB Pipeline believed Lee will be taken by the Pittsburgh Pirates as the No. 4 overall selection.
Baseball America updated Lee’s scouting report.
“The son of Cal Poly head coach Larry Lee, Brooks has been a highly-regarded hitter since his prep days at San Luis Obispo High School, where he rated as the No. 38 player in the 2019 draft class. Scouts then saw Lee as one of the best pure hitters in the region, and he’s only further established his reputation as a standout switch-hitter over his collegiate career.
“After missing the 2020 season due to injury and COVID, Lee has only played 57 games with Cal Poly, but he’s posted a .344/.385/.629 line with 10 home runs and 28 doubles, and last summer he blitzed through the Cape Cod League to the tune of a .405/.432/.667 line over 21 games. He also ranked as the No. 1 prospect on USA Baseball’s collegiate national team.
“He’s an easy plus hitter with a repeatable swing from both sides of the plate, he rarely swings and misses (just 17 percent of the time last spring, per Synergy) and has more than held his own against quality velocity and secondaries. While he doesn’t profile as a slugger, it’s easy to see some of those doubles turning into home runs in the future and he should be able to tap into all of the raw power he has in the tank considering his bat-to-ball skills.
“Scouts are skeptical that Lee will stick at shortstop long term. He has reliable hands, adjusts on bad hops and has a solid, accurate arm, but evaluators note his range is quite limited compared to what you want in a big league shortstop. Perhaps an increasingly shift-heavy MLB game will make his range less of an issue, but most see him settling in best at either third or second base in the long run.”
A four-time All-American last spring, Lee has earned two preseason All-America honors from Perfect Game and Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.
Last spring, Lee committed just six errors in 54 games for a .974 fielding percentage, No. 2 among regular shortstops in the Big West. He did not commit an error in Cal Poly’s final 21 games of the 2021 season.
His team-leading .342 batting average included a school-record 27 doubles, three triples and 10 home runs, all team highs as well. Lee finished with more extra-base hits (40) than singles (36) and hit safely in 41 of the 54 games in which he played, producing hitting streaks of 12, 11 and nine games.
Other honors earned by Lee were Big West Conference Co-Field Player of the Year and Co-Freshman Field Player of the Year, a spot on the All-Big West first team, Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American, one of five National Co-Freshman Players of the Year by Collegiate Baseball and ABCA All-West Region first team.
Lee was one of six finalists for the Brooks Wallace Award as the nation’s top shortstop and also was a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, presented to the player of the year.
Lee led the Mustangs in RBIs (57), hits (76), total bases (139) and sacrifice flies (8). His school single-season record of 27 doubles tied for fifth place in the Big West record book. Lee he also led his squad in multiple-hit games with 25 and was the Big West leader with his 16 multiple-RBI contests.
Thorpe was Cal Poly’s Friday night starter and compiled a 6-6 win-loss record and 3.79 ERA in his first full season with the Mustangs. The Washington, Utah, native struck out 104 batters over 90 1/3 innings and opponents hit just .240 off the 6-4, 205-pound pitcher.
Thorpe’s 104 strikeouts were third in the Big West last season and he also was third in innings pitched, 10th in wins, fifth in starts (15) and 14th in ERA.
Thorpe was 6-1 with a 3.15 ERA in his nine starts at home last spring and compiled double-digit strikeouts three times this year, matching his career high with 13 against UC Santa Barbara.
Both Lee and Thorpe played for Team USA as well as in the Cape Cod League for Yarmouth-Dennis last summer.
Cal Poly opens practice for the 2022 season Jan. 28 and plays its first game Feb. 18 against Washington at 6 p.m. inside Baggett Stadium.
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