Korey Lee #11

Grew up in Vista, Calif., which is just north of San Diego...Korey’s older brother, Kellen, played catcher at UC-San Diego, which inspired Korey to take up the position...Kellen now serves as the Mental Skills Coach for the Seattle Mariners...Korey graduated from Vista HS (CA) in 2016, hitting .407 as a senior...was a First-Team All-Avocado League selection as a junior and senior...also played three years of water polo, helping his team to an Avocado League championship as a junior...credits his water polo play with helping his arm strength...Went undrafted out of high school and went on to attended the University of California, Berkeley...in his first two years at Cal, split time in the infield, at catcher and as the team’s DH...broke out as the club’s everyday catcher in his junior 2019 season, hitting .338 (67x198) with 12 doubles, 15 home runs and 57 RBI while posting a 1.045 OPS (.619 SLG/.419 OBP) in 51 games for the Golden Bears...was a First Team All-Pac 12 selection and a semifinalist for the Buster Posey Award, which goes to the top collegiate catcher...played with Darren Baker at Cal, the son of Astros manager Dusty Baker...Selected by the Astros in the first round (32nd overall) of the 2019 MLB Draft...signed by Astros scout Tim Costic...The 2023 season will be his third at Major League Spring Training and his first on the club’s 40-man roster...added to the 40-man on July 1, 2022, and accrued 32 days of Major League time last season.

2022

Spent the majority of his season at Triple A Sugar Land, hitting .238 (96x404) with 20 doubles, 25 homers, 76 RBI, 12 stolen bases and a .790 OPS in 104 games...Had a month-long stint in the Majors from July 1-Aug. 1, serving as the Astros backup catcher following an injury to C Jason Castro...optioned back to Triple A after the Astros acquired C Christian Vázquez at the trading deadline...While in the Majors, started seven games at catcher, hitting .160 (4x25) with two doubles and four RBI... had his best MLB game on July 10 at OAK, going 3x4 with a double and three RBI...recorded his first career hit and RBI with a fifth-inning single off LHP Cole Irvin...while in the Majors, caught five starts by RHP Jake Odorizzi and two by RHP Cristian Javier...After his option, had a huge month of August, hitting .288 (23x80) with 10 homers and 26 RBI in 21 games...followed that up by hitting five homers in 19 games in September...Was not on a Postseason roster for Houston, but did travel with the team as part of the Taxi Squad.

2021

Played his first full minor league season in 2021, advancing three levels, from Class A Asheville to Double a Corpus Christi to Triple-A Sugar Land... combined to hit .277 (91x329) with 18 doubles, 11 homers, 45 RBI and a .778 OPS in 88 games...named the Double-A Central Offensive Player of the Week on June 27 after hitting four homers with eight RBI during the week...following the season, played for Glendale in the Arizona Fall League and was named an AFL Rising Star after hitting .258 (16x62) with two doubles, a homer and six RBI in 17 games.

2020

Did not play in an official game in 2020 due to the pandemic-shortened season...returned to the field for Houston's Instructional Camp in October in West Palm Beach.

2019

Spent his first professional season in 2019 with Tri-City after getting drafted by the Astros...batted .268 (60x224) with a .730 OPS (.359OBP/.371SLG) in 64 games.