Dodgers call up former first-round draft pick Zach Lee
Dodgers pitcher Zach Lee delivers during an exhibition game against the
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Reporting from Washington, D.C. — Five years after the Dodgers made him their most expensive draft pick in franchise history, Zach Lee has reached the major leagues.
Lee’s promotion from triple-A Oklahoma City came under unusual circumstances, as the Dodgers and Washington Nationals were permitted by the league to expand their rosters to 26 players for their second game Saturday.
Earlier in the day, the teams completed a game that was suspended the previous night because of problems with the stadium lights. The Nationals won that game, 5-3.
Lee, a 23-year-old right-hander, will be part of the Dodgers’ bullpen for the second game, which was scheduled to start at 1:05 p.m. Pacific. Clayton Kershaw was to start for the Dodgers. Lee is expected to return to Oklahoma City after the game.
Lee was selected by the Dodgers with the 28th overall pick of the 2010 draft.
The Dodgers paid him a franchise-record bonus of $5.25 million to buy him out of a football scholarship at LSU. Lee was a highly rated quarterback in high school.
Lee has spent the majority of this season in Oklahoma City, for which he is 6-3 with a 2.34 earned-run average.
He has pitched in 11 games for Oklahoma City, all of them starts.
Lee was shut down last month because of tingling in his fingers.
He has pitched in three games at three different levels since then. His most recent game was on July 11, when he pitched five innings for Oklahoma City and limited Colorado Springs to a run and six hits.
The Dodgers’ lineup for the second game:
Joc Pederson CF
Howie Kendrick 2B
Justin Turner 3B
Adrian Gonzalez 1B
Andre Ethier LF
Yasiel Puig RF
A.J. Ellis C
Jimmy Rollins SS
Clayton Kershaw P
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