Wilson Lee

From BR Bullpen

Wilson Norman Lee

  • Bats Right, Throws Left
  • Height 6' 1", Weight 220 lb.

BR minors page

Biographical Information[edit]

Wilson Lee has pitched in Australia, the US, the Czech Republic and Germany (winning two MVPs there).

Lee was signed by Pittsburgh Pirates Australia scout Tony Harris in April 2010. He allowed one run in 3 2/3 IP for the Adelaide Bite in the 2010-2011 Australian Baseball League. He made his minor league debut with the 2011 GCL Pirates, going 1-1 with two saves and a 3.99 ERA in 16 games. He was part of an international team featuring Dovydas Neverauskas (Lithuania), Orlando Castro (Honduras), Rinku Singh (India), Ping-Hung Chi (Taiwan), Gift Ngoepe (South Africa), Daan Cornelissen (Netherlands), Yhonathan Barrios (Colombia) and Jorge Bishop and Ashley Ponce (both Panama) as well as Americans, Dominicans, Venezuelans and a couple other Australians (Dylan Child and Jackson Lodge) for 12 different countries.

Wilson was 1-0 with a 8.44 ERA for Adelaide in 2011-2012, walking 13 in 10 2/3 IP. He went 4-1 with a save and a 3.28 ERA in 15 games for the GCL Pirates for 2012 to finish his minor league career. He struggled for the Bite in 2012-2013 (0-1, 12.27, 11 H, 7 BB in 7 1/3 IP) but rebounded in 2013-2014 (2.16 ERA in 8 G, 14 H, 7 BB, 22 K in 16 2/3 IP). He then signed with Draci Brno in the Czech Extraliga. He beat the Eagles Praha in his debut, allowing one hit and fanning six in two shutout innings of relief. He was 5-3 with a 3.97 ERA and also hit .337/.398/.639. He tied for third in the league with four triples, just missed the top in RBI (he had 31), was third in slugging among players with 90+ AB (after Jakub Sládek and Matěj Hejma). He also allowed the lowest average in the league (.189) and was 6th with 86 strikeouts but was not among the win or ERA leaders. In the 2014 European Cup, he allowed one run in 6 2/3 IP, fanning 16, mostly in a rout of the Ukrainian KNTU Elizavetgrad club. He tied Mike Bolsenbroek for the event lead in strikeouts. In the 2014 U-21 Baseball World Cup, he was 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA in three outings for Australia, beating the Czechs and Ondřej Satoria.

He was 3-3 with a 4.39 ERA for the Bite in the 2014-2015 ABL and tied Ryan Searle and Matthew Williams for third in the loop with 26 walks. He got the call in the last game of the championship finals but allowed 5 runs in 1 2/3 IP in a loss to the Perth Heat. Moving to Germany's Bonn Capitals for 2015, he had an amazing year both on the mound (10-1, 1.44, opponent batting line of .145/.235/.164) and at the plate (.453/.538/.773). He led the northern Bundesliga-1 in home runs (tied with Tanner Leighton and Florian Götze), RBI (6 over Leighton and B.J. Huppert), slugging (.026 over Leighton), OPS (8 over Leighton), lowest opponent average (.012 better than Chris Mezger), lowest slugging allowed (.164) and lowest OPS (398, 13 ahead of Mezger), becoming the rare player to lead his league in both OPS and lowest opponent OPS. Additionally, he was on the leaderboard in average (2nd, .013 behind Leighton), hits (34, 4th), doubles (7, tied for 6th), runs (tied for 5th with David Selsemeyer), OBP (3rd after Leighton and Sascha Steffens), steals (tied for second with 16, one behind Eric Brenk), ERA (3rd after Sascha Koch and Mezger), strikeouts (125, 2nd, 9 behind Mezger), wins (2nd, one behind Mezger), innings pitched (81, 4th), WHIP (3rd after Mezger and Koch) and opponent OBP (3rd). He fell to 1-2, 3.04 in the postseason and was 3 for 16 at the plate as Bonn was eliminated by eventual champion Heidenheim Heideköpfe in the semifinals. He won league MVP honors for his efforts.

Lee slipped to 0-2, 8.53 for Adelaide in 2015-2016. He played for Australia in the 2016 Haarlem Baseball Week but was rocked by the Netherlands. He remained with Bonn that summer and did well, though not nearly as dominant as the prior year (.365/.485/.673; 5-3, 3.76). He was 9th in average (between Collin Forgey and Brenk), tied Huppert for 2nd in homers (4, 3 behind fellow Oceania native Daniel Lamb-Hunt), was 2nd in RBI (23, 3 behind Lamb-Hunt), tied for 7th in walks (13), was 2nd in slugging (.104 behind Lamb-Hunt), was 4th in OBP (between Maurice Bendrien and Dominik Wulf), was 2nd in OPS (127 behind Lamb-Hunt), was 10th in batters whiffed (47), tied for 6th in wins, was 9th in IP and was 10th in both WHIP and opponent OPS.

He took the summer off, then hit .357/.534/.524 in limited time for Bonn in '17. He had a 4-0, 3.00 record. Had he qualified, he would have been 4th in OBP and 8th in OPS. He led pitchers in fielding (11 TC, 0 E, one TC ahead of Daniel Thieben) and also handled 12 chances with no errors in the outfield. He was 9th in ERA, 9th in K (50), tied Maurice Wilhelm for 8th in wins, was 10th in IP (51), was 9th in WHIP (1.29) and 10th in opponent OPS. He had a rough winter in 2017-2018 (6 1/3 IP, 13 H, 6 BB, 17 R, 12 ER, 5 HR).

Moving to the Solingen Alligators in '18, he had a big season at the plate (.437/.538/.701, 27 R, 24 RBI, 12 SB in 24 G) and was 6-3 with a 3.28 ERA. He won the batting title (.037 ahead of Justin Brock), was 6th in RBI (between Maikel Azcuy and Wilhelm), was 5th in hits (38), led in doubles (12, one ahead of Maik Ehmcke), tied for 4th in runs, tied for 6th in walks (19), was 3rd in slugging (behind Caleb Fenimore and Wilhelm), led in OBP (.015 ahead of Fenimore), was second in OPS (67 behind Fenimore), ranked 4th in steals, led in outfield assists (6, one ahead of Edvardas Matusevičius), was 4th in K (97), tied for 3rd in wins (behind Koch and Riley Barr), was 3rd in IP (74), tied for 2nd in walks issued (35), was 5th in K/IP (between Markus Solbach and Barr), was 10th in WHIP and 8th in opponent OPS (624). He allowed six runs in four innings for Adelaide in 2018-2019.

Back with Bonn in the 2019 European Champions Cup, he fell a triple shy of the cycle against the Arrows Ostrava and lost to Neptunus. He hit .533/.6321/1.200 with four runs, three homers, six RBI and three steals in four games, while posting a 0-1, 9.64 record in his lone start. He was 4th in the Cup in average, led in slugging (.109 ahead of Gilmer Lampe), tied Gianison Boekhoudt for 3rd in OBP, tied Delano Selassa for 2nd in hits (8), tied for 5th in RBI, tied Denzel Richardson for first in dingers, led with 18 total bases, tied for 6th with 4 walks and tied Benjamin Dille for 2nd in swipes (one behind Coco Johnson). He hit .364/.426/.646 with 13 doubles, 5 homers, 33 RBI and 34 runs in 23 games, while going 2-0 with a 1.71 ERA for the Capitals. League leaders for the season are not available as of 11/30/2020.

He did not pitch for Bonn in 2020. In a season shortened by COVID-19, he hit .551/.589/1.020 with 20 runs, 23 RBI and 7 HR in 56 plate appearances. He led the league in hits (27, 7 ahead of Christopher Goebel), homers (two ahead of Brandon Dodson and Matusevičius), total bases (50, 10 ahead of Dodson) and RBI (2 ahead of Matusevičius) while placing second in runs (one behind Kevin Van Meensel), third in extra-base hits (9), second in average (.030 behind Dodson), 4th in OBP, 2nd in slugging (.270 behind Dodson) and OPS (2nd behind Dodson). He won his second Bundesliga MVP, five years after his first.

In the 2021 European Champions Cup, he had a double, triple, two homers and seven RBI in a Bonn upset win over the Amsterdam Pirates. He hit .421/.476/1.211 with four homers and ten RBI in five games, posting a 5.63 ERA with 11 K in 8 IP and getting no decisions. He tied Kalian Sams for third in homers (behind Dwayne Kemp and Sicnarf Loopstok), was 4th in RBI, ranked 3rd in total bases (behind Kemp and Loopstok), was second to Loopstok in slugging and was 4th in OPS (between Ericson Leonora and Kemp). He tied former major leaguer Shairon Martis for 4th in batters whiffed. Bonn finished second, matching the best finish by a German team. He hit .370/.471/.648 in the German regular season with 20 RBI in 19 games, pitching briefly (5.63 ERA as in the Cup). In the postseason, he batted .333/.450/.848 with 13 runs in 13 games but was 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA on the hill. For the regular season, he tied Jeffrey Arndt and Daniel Sánchez for 8th in runs (17), tied for 4th in homers (5), was 10th in total bases (47), tied for 4th with 20 RBI and tied Lamb-Hunt and Vincent Ahrens for 3rd in walks (12).

Now 30 years old, Lee hit .300/.440/.600 with five RBI and five walks in five games in the 2022 European Champions Cup, though he had a 7.36 ERA with five walks in 3 2/3 IP. In the opener, he drew a 9th-inning walk from Satoria and scored the tying run on the game-winning grand slam by Ahrens to beat host Ostrava. He homered off Kevin Bakker in a win over Neptunus and off Luis Lugo in a loss to champion Parma. Bonn won the Bronze. He tied for 4th in homers, tied for 8th in RBI and tied for second in walks (two behind Stijn van der Meer) though he also tied for 8th in walks issued. In that year's Bundesliga, he hit .398/.495/.687 with 33 runs and 34 RBI in 27 games for Bonn, while he was 1-0 with a 0.64 ERA in limited hill action. He led in runs (one ahead of Brenk), tied Matusevičius for second in hits (behind Brenk), tied Brenk for the most doubles (9), tied Daniel Hinz for the most dingers (5), was second to Brenk in total bases, led in extra-base hits (14, one more than Brenk), led in RBI (7 more than Lamb-Hunt), tied Marc Harder for 8th in steals (7), tied Finn Bergmann for 5th in walks (18), had the second-best average among those with 100+ AB (after Brenk), was second to Bendrien in OBP (using the same cut-off), led in slugging (.061 ahead of Brenk) and led in OPS (91 more than Brenk). In the playoffs, he batted .250/.350/.404 as Bonn won the title.

The Darwin native suited up for the German national team eight years after he had represented his native Australia. In the 2022 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, he got into one game, batting for Kevin Kotowski in the 7th inning against South Africa. He singled off Donovan Hendricks his lone trip to the plate and scored on a homer by Demetrius Moorer. He stayed in in left field.

Sources[edit]

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