The time Dylan Lee faked being right-handed so he could play for two teams

MILWAUKEE — The Braves will arrive in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, on Sunday to play the Brewers in a game that is part of Little League World Series festivities.

Relief pitcher Dylan Lee never made it the LLWS as a player, but he did double his chances one summer, thanks to some stealthy planning by Lee’s youth coach.

Lee, as a 10- or 11-year-old, he said, was already playing in a league in his hometown of Dinuba, California. One of his favorite coaches, Victor Contreras, meanwhile, was hatching a plan to get Lee to also play in a league at the same time in neighboring Cutler-Orosi.

“He’s like, ‘You want to play some more?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah. I mean, I love baseball,’” Lee said.

Here was the plan: During tryouts for the Cutler-Orosi league, all the left-handed Lee had to do was throw right-handed and bat right-handed. Conteras would then draft Lee whom, it would be assumed, no one else would want because of his perceived shortcomings.

The scheme worked. Lee was now playing for two teams in two leagues at the same time, driving back and forth between towns to practice and play. And he was excelling as a left-hander in both, raising suspicions by opposing coaches in the Cutler-Orosi league who could have sworn this kid was right-handed.

“(Contreras) told the other coaches that he saw I was just using the wrong glove, and he found out I was left-handed,” Lee said. “All of a sudden, I was one of the better players on the team.”

Lee, whether it was for Dinuba or Cutler-Orosi, was a staple on his youth league All-Star teams, but never advanced to Williamsport and the Little League World Series — the strong teams from Visalia Blues often seemed to get in the way, Lee said. He’ll finally get his chance to visit the event Sunday when he and the Braves play the Brewers at Bowman Field in front of this year’s LLWS teams.