Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Lee will be on shuttle a lot
Rookie makes best of MLB experience
MIAMI — A player’s first big hit in the big leagues is indelible. Braxton Lee’s carried the added significance that it came against former Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta on Sunday in Philadelphia.
The Marlins rookie sliced a two-out single with the bases loaded to drive in two runs in the first inning which figured prominently in a Marlins 6-3 victory that snapped a four-game losing streak. Lee fell behind in the count 0-2 before fighting off a curveball and looping it near the left-field line.
Those were the first runs batted in for Lee in his first start in the outfield. He got his first major league hit the previous day on an infield single.
“It was definitely cool to be able to get them off of him,” said Lee, who concentrated on disregarding who he was facing when he came to the plate. “I definitely just had to make it seem so dumbed down as much as possible. Not like, ‘Oh, I’m facing Jake Arrieta today.’ I just had to make it seem like, it’s a right-handed pitcher up there throwing, so let me just do what I do.”
It was an indication of the type of hitter Lee can become for Miami. He won the batting title in the Double-A Southern League last season by spraying the ball around the field and utilizing his speed.
It is a style much like New York Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner, to whom Lee has evoked comparisons.
Lee, who bears a facial resemblance to actor Tobey Maguire, is built similar to Gardner, a stocky 5-foot-10 (Gardner is 5-11) that belies surprising speed.
After admiring Gardner for years via television, Lee said he was struck by the similarity when the Marlins played the Yankees in Tampa during spring training.
“I watched him and I was like, that’s exactly how I swing, how I run,” Lee said. “So they’re definitely spoton with Brett Gardner] comparison.”
Marlins manager Don Mattingly, who was a Yankee coach when Gardner was at a similar stage of development, said, “We think it’s a similar tool set. I think Brett was a little more dangerous from a standpoint of when he got on [base] nothing shied him away from [running]. That’s something that we think [is] coming for [Lee]. That will be part of his maturation.”
Lee is getting a chance to work on the process at the big-league level due to the hand injury that has Garrett Cooper on the disabled list. He made his second start Monday in right field with slumping Lewis Brinson getting a day off and Cameron Maybin moving to center.
Lee, 24, has been given notice that he will likely be a frequent flier on the shuttle between Miami and Triple-A New Orleans this season. Meanwhile, he is getting the indoctrination period of playing in the big leagues out of the way.
“I think after that 17-inning game and getting those four at-bats [off the bench] really kind of calmed me down,” Lee said. “Things have definitely slowed back down to reality to realize it’s just baseball. I’m trying to make the most of it.”