Conversations with the Herd: Blue Jays Reliever Chase Lee

By: Brian Frank

Chase Lee has had a remarkable—and unlikely—journey from the baseball diamonds of McCalla, Alabama, to the major leagues. Lee, a side-arming reliever, was having an outstanding season with the Bisons when he was promoted to the Blue Jays on Wednesday afternoon.

Lee was an All-County shortstop at McAdory High School in McCalla but only pitched occasionally. After high school, he decided to attend the University of Alabama, located only about a 40 minute drive from his home, to pursue a degree in aerospace engineering.

“I always enjoyed math, and I kind of loved the idea of problem solving and engineering and fixing things,” Lee recently told The Herd Chronicles. “I never really had any hands-on work growing up, but just kind of that concept of being creative and fixing problems. Then when you're 16, you look up highest-paying jobs, and it's engineers and doctors and lawyers and it's like, well out of those three I guess I'll be an engineer. So that's kind of how that came up. Then, you know, I didn't love the school part of it, but I actually enjoyed the things I got to learn—different 3D modeling or problem-solving skills or how to how to study and how to learn new topics. I think that carries over now still.”

“I really wanted to go to Alabama, having grown up so close and been a fan,” he continued. “Baseball wasn't an opportunity, but I had good financial aid, and they had the degree I wanted to do. The decision was kind of between Alabama, Auburn, and Alabama at Huntsville. By the time I did all the financial aid stuff and scholarships, it just really made the most sense.”

Once he arrived in Tuscaloosa, Lee decided to attend an open tryout during his freshman year in an attempt to walk on to Alabama’s baseball team.

“I thought it would just be a good, fun day of free baseball,” he explained. “Kind of the last hurrah just to enjoy it… I tried out as an infielder, and then threw a few pitches off of the mound just for fun. Really, just a last resort—go and at least say you tried. Then the coaching staff actually suggested dropping down and seeing if that would prolong my career. Obviously it was a long shot, but that was really their only advice. So I took that and ran with it, and here we are.”

Lee spent the next year learning to pitch sidearm.

“A lot of it was working with a private coach, Bryant Thompson, and then YouTube, watching guys that played in the big leagues that did that,” he said. “Darren O'Day, Steve Cishek, were a few names that I really tried to emulate as far as how they threw. But a lot of it was just I played infield growing up, so it was like, hey, how do you turn a double play ball from short? You kind of just flick it from the side. All right, let's do that off the rubber now, and that was kind of the progression that turned into pitching.”

Lee had a 2.20 ERA and 1.133 WHIP for Buffalo this season. Photo Credit: Brian Frank, The Herd Chronicles

During his freshman year, he used his new delivery to pitch for Alabama’s club team. The results were immediate—he went 7-0 with a 0.21 ERA and was named team MVP. His season with the club team helped prepare him for another tryout with the Division I squad.

“I think a lot of it was just playing,” Lee said. “I think I maybe had 20 or 30 innings in high school, if that. I didn't pitch much, so I really didn’t know what to do. I didn't know how to pitch. I didn't know really what a throwing program was like or any sort of things like that. So a lot of it was just trying to learn how that position works and how to manage workloads and stress and counts and all that comes with that. Then just enjoying the game. I think that was just a nice reset of like, hey, this is a fun game to play, and I'm going to hang out with my friends and play baseball—and if it leads to something else, cool, and if not, this is really fun.”

During his sophomore year, he gave Division I baseball another shot.

“I went back to the same tryout,” he said. “They had the same procedure the next year. I had been sending them email updates just to be a pest almost—like hey don't forget about me, I'm still trying over here, I'm giving everything I got. I just need some help. So I gave them a heads up I'd come back to tryouts and then my sophomore year I just went as a pitcher. I kind of avoided the whole position player thing. I realized that probably wasn't going to work out. So I just went and pitched. I threw my 12 pitches on an indoor mound in tennis shoes and ended up changing my life.”

Lee made the team. In his first season of Division I baseball, he posted a 2.67 ERA with a 1.088 WHIP in 30 1/3 IP, mostly in low-leverage situations. He then pitched summer ball for the Bethesda Big Train of the Cal Ripken Collegiate League, where he began to realize that he could not only succeed with his new delivery, but excel with it.

“I pitched odd and end roles my first year with [Alabama], doing mostly early relief, like right after the starter, cleaning up messes, never really any leverage, at least from my memory,” he recalled. “Then I went to summer ball and kind of got to close a little bit. That's when I started striking guys out, throwing a little harder. I came back that fall and like—hey, it’s kind of your closer spot to lose, go do what you need to do. Then I started having draft interviews. I was like—whoa, a year ago I was playing intramural, and I’m having draft interviews now, it’s kind of wild."

His next collegiate season, he earned the Crimson Tide’s closer’s role. In five games during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, he had a 1.64 ERA with 19 strikeouts in 11 IP, two saves, and a minuscule 0.545 WHIP. Then, his final year at Alabama, he went 7-0 with a 1.33 ERA, 51 strikeouts in 40 2/3 IP, collected seven saves, and had a 1.057 WHIP. The same pitcher who hadn’t made the team his freshman year ended up posting a 1.87 ERA over his three seasons at Alabama, the lowest ERA ever by an Alabama reliever with a minimum of 50 IP.

In 2021, Lee was selected by the Texas Rangers in the sixth round of the MLB Draft.

“I was at home with my at the time fiancé, now wife, and my family,” he said of the day he was drafted. “We just kind of enjoyed the day. I had the chance to get drafted the year before and decided to go back to school, so I knew that was a good possibility. I didn't know how my age would factor into the draft, but I had a feeling that at least there would probably be some opportunity. We just had dinner on day two and watched it on TV. I had a couple phone calls and sat in the living room and watched my name come up.”

At Sahlen Field. Photo Credit: Brian Frank, The Herd Chronicles

Just as he had in college, Lee found immediate success in professional baseball. He reached Double-A in his first professional season and posted a 3.71 ERA with a 0.824 WHIP in 17 IP. The following season, he was promoted to Triple-A in mid-June and earned the Rangers' 2022 Minor League Reliever of the Year award. In 2023, he posted a 3.98 ERA with a 1.453 WHIP at Triple-A Round Rock, along with 87 strikeouts in 63 1/3 IP. Then, during an injury-plagued 2024 season, he was dealt to the Detroit Tigers at the MLB trade deadline along with fellow minor league pitcher Joseph Montalvo for relief pitcher Andrew Chafin.

“It was definitely a shock,” he said. “I knew we were going to be making some moves with where Texas was that year. They had just come off the World Series, kind of still in the hunt, just outside the wild card, needing to make some moves. I didn't think it was going to be me, honestly. I had just come off of two hip surgeries, had just been activated for maybe a month by the time the deadline came around, so I'd only thrown 10 innings or so, I really don't remember exactly. But I didn't think I had enough post-surgery activity to actually be an available option. So, I was definitely shocked. I think I woke up that morning and I was like, I can't wait to see who gets traded today. I didn't know it was going to be me. But obviously that was such an enjoyable time. I'm thankful for Texas and Detroit for a new opportunity. I kind of got to see a little bit more of the country and different orgs, different philosophies, and all that comes with that.”

The trade proved to be a great opportunity for Lee. He was promoted to the Tigers in April of 2025 and made his major league debut against the San Diego Padres at Comerica Park in Detroit.

“You hear horror stories of different people's travel, and they got caught up on the road and had a cross-country flight, and they got there—you know these crazy stories,” he said. “I got called up the night before. Minor leagues and big leagues were both at home, so I just drove up that morning. Had a nice normal day at the park. Kind of got to soak all of that in, and then the fact I got to pitch my first night there, I didn't have time for nerves and things like that. So after the first pitch, it was like, hey, we're in a two-run game, I’ve got to get some guys out—and it happened to be [Manny] Machado was the first hitter.”

He got Machado to line back to the mound, which Lee fielded and threw to first for an inning-ending double play.

“Thankfully, it worked out,” Lee said. “We didn't win, but at least I kept us in the game. Just an enjoyable experience. Having my family there, and just kind of a culmination of a lot of hard work.”

Lee ended up working 1 2/3 scoreless innings in his debut. He went on to make 32 relief appearances for the Tigers, posting a 4.10 ERA and a 1.098 WHIP. He was then traded to Toronto in the offseason for minor league pitcher Johan Simon.

Lee has made a few small adjustments since joining the Blue Jays organization.

“There was no overhaul, nothing massive,” he said. “Detroit had given me a few things they wanted me to work on in the off-season, and then when I got traded over, Toronto gave me a few things they wanted me to work on. So, kind of combining those two things into showing up in the spring and Toronto wanted me to work on my sinker shape. Detroit had given me velo as a goal. Kind of combining those things. I need to throw a better sinker harder. Honestly, it was mostly just getting back to being healthy. Last year was my first full season after the hip surgeries, so just hey, how do we play? Last year, I think I hit a wall at some point, and just how do I prep my body for 162 again? How do I manage my days? How am I going to schedule my workouts for my throwing based on the schedule? It was a lot planning more so than an overhaul or anything like that.”

With catcher Brandon Valenzuela earlier this season. Photo Credit: Brian Frank, The Herd Chronicles

Lee has been one of the Bisons' most consistent relievers this season. He has a 2.20 ERA and a 1.133 WHIP with 40 strikeouts in 45 IP. Now, he returns to the majoer leagues with the Blue Jays.

Looking back on the long road from his first tryout at Alabama to the big leagues, he still can’t believe where his journey has taken him.

“But that's the beautiful thing about life,” he reflected. “God is good. He's given you days to live out to bring him glory and you joy. This has been an exciting ride, so to speak. It's definitely not what I had pictured at 17 that this is what my life would look like. Just getting to look back and be grateful for the people I've been able to interact with and run into and do life with, and the places I've been able to go and things I've been able to experience. I just get to be grateful a little more than maybe someone who didn’t have to walk on, so to speak.”