Former Pike Liberal Arts baseball star Darry Lee is coming off a stellar 2025 season at Bethune-Cookman but his season isn’t over just yet as he was selected to compete in the upcoming HBCU Swingman Classic in Atlanta, Ga.

The Swingman Classic is entering its third year and is an all-star game put on by Major League Baseball (MLB) during MLB All-Star week to showcase the top players from around the country from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
Lee is coming off his first season at Bethune-Cookman, which saw him help lead his team to an NCAA Regional appearance for the first time since 2011. In the Tallahassee Regional, Bethune-Cookman was eliminated after losing to Florida State on May 30 and Northeastern on May 31. During the tournament, Lee earned a .333 batting average with a double and one run, while also earning nine putouts on defense with no fielding errors.   

Lee also earned All-SWAC Second-Team honors this season after boasting a .299 batting average with 13 doubles, a team-high five triples, nine home runs, 46 RBIs and 49 runs. He also earned 84 putouts and an assist. He held a .988 fielding percentage, committing just one error in 86 total chances. 

“It was a really good season,” Lee said with a smile. “I didn’t play for the first few games, so I didn’t know what my role was going to be, but as I started playing and got my foot in the door, I made the most of it. Throughout the year, they started trusting me more and more and I became one of the guys.” 

Lee was an All-State performer at Pike Lib and then an All-Conference player at the junior college (JUCO) level with Coastal Alabama Community College before getting to Bethune-Cookman. So, he said he started to question whether he was ready for Division I when he wasn’t playing right away.

“I felt like I didn’t have a great fall but I felt like I improved in the preseason,” he said. “We had a great team with incredible depth and the guy they put in front of me played well. It humbled me but it also made me work harder. Once I saw that, I started working even harder and when the opportunity came I made the most of it. 

“I had started questioning whether Division I was where I needed to be right now but I also knew I was here for a reason. After those first few games where I didn’t play, I had to understand that I’m playing with a great group of guys and I’m at a level where everyone is good and eventually my opportunity would come.”

Lee said the opportunity to play in the NCAA Regionals was an experience he won’t forget.

“We played Florida State, one of the best teams in the country, and Northeastern, which has one of the best pitching staffs in the country,” Lee said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to play against some of the best competition in the country. It was electric.” 

Lee said that when he first committed to Bethune-Cookman, he set his sights on being selected to the HBCU Swingman Classic.

“That was one of my goals,” he said. “It wasn’t the main goal but it was a personal goal of mine. Ken Griffey Jr. is my favorite player of all time and knowing that he is hosting it – and that I was going to an HBCU – made me want to work even harder and set that goal for myself.” 

Griffey, a Baseball Hall of Famer, not only hosts the event but is among the committee that personally selects the rosters for the all-star game. 

“I’ll be excited and I hope I’ll be able to talk,” Lee said of meeting his baseball hero. “Growing up, people said I swing like him. So, I want to be able to swing in front of him and see what he thinks. Just to be able to bounce ideas off him – and the other legends and players there – is going to be special for me.”

Along with Griffey hosting the event, it will be coached by a slew of baseball legends. Atlanta Braves legends David Justice and Brian Jordan will serve as head coaches for the two teams at the all-star game. Lee will play on Justice’s team. Other legends and former players will serve as additional coaches for each team. 

The HBCU Swingman Classic will take place on July 11 and will air live on the MLB Network at 7 p.m.

Along with getting ready for a high-profile all-star game, Lee is also weighing his options for the future. He took part in a pre-draft workout with the San Diego Padres following the college baseball season.

“It went really well,” Lee said of the workout. “It was a great experience for me and I really didn’t expect to get any pro exposure after my first year with Bethune. It just kind of came out of nowhere after I started playing well. The pre-draft workout was a good experience. I got to get into the flow of how they go about things in the pros.” 

Troy catcher Brooks Bryan has also taken part in pre-draft workouts, and both he and Lee are expected to be drafted at some point in this year’s MLB Draft. The pair played together on the American Legion World Series Champion Troy Post 70 summer team in 2022 and have been competing with, and against, one another all their lives.

“The thought of Brooks and I ending up in the same organization is something I definitely think about,” said Lee. “One of the things I think about is if I get drafted, who will I be around? Knowing that there is a possibility of me and Brooks being in the same organization – and playing together again – gets me excited and fires me up. We didn’t just play together (on Post 70), we also played against each other way back in Dixie Youth Baseball. We’ve played against, or with, each other our whole lives.” 

While Lee’s future is uncertain right now, he said he feels good about both of his options moving forward.

“It’s a dream to go pro but I want to go with the best opportunity for me,” he emphasized. “If the best opportunity for me is professional baseball, then I obviously want to do that and indulge in that dream, but if the value that teams see in me isn’t there – or I’m just a safety pick or a waste pick – that’s fine, too. I can go back to school where I love my coach, I love my team and be around a great group of guys and go for another run at regional. It’s a win-win situation.”