Added to the postseason roster on Saturday, Cal Baseball alum Korey Lee is a World Series champion
Houston Astros replaced Yuli Gurriel with Cal alum Korey Lee before clinching the World Series in Game 6
Depending on how the rest of his MLB career pan out, Korey Lee’s role as the latest Cal Baseball alumni to be on a World Series winning postseason roster may or may not be an obscure trivia answer.
After first baseman Yuli Gurriel was deemed to have too serious of a knee injury suffered in Game 5 of the 2022 World Series, Houston Astros opted to add the Cal alumni to the active roster for Game 6. Astros then defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 4-1 to take Game 6 and the series.
Lee, who was with the team throughout the postseason run as a “taxi squad” player, was just informed about being added to the World Series roster on Saturday morning. While he has played mostly catcher both at Cal and in his pro career thus far, Lee got some positional flexibility to possibly play 1st base as well.
Although he did not get into a game this World Series (or in any of the Astros’ postseason games), Korey Lee will forever be a part of that series-winning celebration. Cal fans can easily spot Korey Lee (No.38) jumping around the celebratory (not-quite) dogpile.
On-site at Minute Maid Park to see Korey Lee achieving the pinnacle of baseball were his parents as well as former Cal teammate, Darren Baker. Darren Baker is of course the son of Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker.
Korey Lee was the second Cal 1st round pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, when fellow Cal Bear Andrew Vaughn went 3rd overall to the Chicago White Sox. Lee made his MLB debut in 2022 (so he was assured of a World Series ring even before this last-minute roster move) but only got 4 hits in 25 ABs with 0 homers. In AAA this year, Lee did hit 25 homers to go with 12 stolen bases. He did only slash 0.238/0.307/0.483 and could improve his contact rate (like most young hitters).
Lee could emerge as the main backup catcher for the Astros in 2023, although the Astros also saw a breakout season from fellow catching prospect Yainer Diaz. Both Lee and Diaz are 24, and MLB Pipeline has Diaz as the 3rd best Astros prospect while Lee sits at 7th.
No matter what awaits in his pro baseball future, this past Saturday was a special one for Korey Lee. The last Cal Baseball alum to get a World Series ring for appearing in a regular season game of the eventual World Series champion is Tony Renda, who had one memorable pinch-running appearance on Sunday Night Baseball for the Boston Red Sox.
Since baseball is such a team game, more accomplished players often never get to win a World Championship. Prior to their improbable World Series run, the Philadelphia Phillies rostered another Cal catcher alum in Andrew Knapp from 2016 to 2021. Knapp was cut from the Phillies’ 40-men roster in the offseason post-2021 and found himself bouncing between the Pittsburgh Pirates, Seattle Mariners, and San Francisco Giants in 2022. We shall see if the likes of Andrew Vaugh, Mark Canha, and Marcus Semien might join Korey Lee to become a World Series champion in the near future.
Congratulations to Korey Lee and the Astros, including Cal parent Dusty Baker!