No. 1 pick Zach Lee makes strong professional debut

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For those who like to look down the road, cross fingers and dream of better days … Zach Lee had a fairly impressive professional debut Friday in Midland, Mich.

The Dodgers’ No.1 draft pick last June, Lee threw four shutout innings for the Great Lakes Loons, holding the Lake County Captains to two hits. He struck out five and walked three.

The Loons -- don’t you love minor league nicknames? -- eventually fell, 2-1.

Lee was the supposedly unsignable, 6-foot-4 right-hander who had already enrolled at Louisiana State to play quarterback. The Dodgers fairly shocked baseball by signing him to a $5.25-million bonus, easily the largest in their history.

In another minor league note, the Dodgers have re-signed Preston Mattingly, their former No.1 pick who was released last week by the Indians.

Mattingly, the son of Dodgers manager Don Mattingly, was assigned to the Dodgers’ Arizona camp for extended spring training.

-- Steve Dilbeck