Chris Young (pitcher)

Chris Young

Young throwing a four-seam fastball during pregame warmup at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
San Diego Padres — No. 32
Starting Pitcher
Born: May 25 1979 (1979-05-25) (age 28)
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
Major League Baseball debut
August 24, 2004 for the Texas Rangers
Selected MLB statistics (through 2007)
Win-Loss	35–22
Earned run average	3.68
Strikeouts	495
Teams
Texas Rangers (2004-2005) San Diego Padres (2006–present)

Christopher Ryan Young (born May 25, 1979 in Dallas, Texas) is a starting pitcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball. He made his Major League debut on August 24, 2004 for the Texas Rangers. The 2007 season was Young's fourth in the big leagues and his second with the Padres. He is 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m), and he throws and bats right-handed. He was elected to the 2007 MLB All-Star Game as a first time All-Star via the All-Star Final Vote.^[1] After an outstanding high school career as an athlete and scholar at Highland Park High School in University Park, Texas, Young excelled in both baseball and basketball for Princeton University and became the Ivy League's first male two-sport Rookie of the Year. Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the August 2000 Draft, he had brief professional experiences in the Pirates, Montreal Expos, and Texas Rangers minor league systems before debuting with the Rangers in August 2004. Young's professional baseball career took off in the 2006 season, when he was the Major League leader in opponent batting average, hits per nine innings and road earned run average (ERA) and was named the National League Pitcher of the Month for the month of June. Additionally, he extended his streak of consecutive undefeated games started as a visiting pitcher to twenty-four, and he secured the only Padres win in the team's 3–1 series loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2006 National League Division Series.^[2] In 2007, he defended his opponent batting average and hits per nine innings titles, but instead of winning the road ERA title he won the home ERA title.

High school

Young attended Highland Park High School where he excelled in both basketball and baseball. He lettered three times in basketball in a career in which he scored over a thousand career points, accumulated five hundred career rebounds and two hundred career blocks. He was a two-year letterman in baseball, compiling a 14–3 record with 180 strikeouts. During his senior year, he was first-team All-State selection in basketball and baseball. In basketball, he averaged sixteen points, twelve rebounds and three blocked shots a game, and in baseball, he had an 8–3 record, with a 1.70 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 80 innings pitched. He was District Most Valuable Player in basketball as a senior and he led his baseball team to the state championship the same year.^[3]

Collegiate

In his freshman season, Young was the first male athlete to be named Ivy League Rookie of the Year in two sports—basketball and baseball—and was a unanimous selection for both awards.^[4][5] In addition to being named Rookie of the Year, Young was named second-team All-Ivy in basketball and was basketball Rookie of the Week each of the final six weeks and seven weeks overall.^[5] His season was capped with Ivy League Player of the Year and freshman All-America honors from Basketball Weekly. Statistically, Young set Princeton freshman records for points (387) and rebounds (160) by averaging 12.9 points and 5.3 rebounds a game. He also had thirty-nine points, nineteen rebounds and fifteen assists in three games at the Rainbow Classic basketball tournament.^[5][6][7][8] He posted a season-high twenty-four points in an National Invitation Tournament win against the North Carolina State Wolfpack.^[9] In baseball, Young led Princeton and the Ivy League with a 2.38 ERA. During this performance he allowed only one home run over the course of 150 batters faced and was twice named Ivy League Rookie of the Week.^[5] Young concluded his college basketball career by starting every game of the 1999–2000 season.^[10] Among his accomplishments that season were twenty-two double-digit scoring games, breaking his own single-season school record for blocked shots with eighty-seven, and leading the team with 13.8 points per game, 6.3 rebounds per game, eighty-seven blocked shots and forty steals.^[10] He was also second on the team with 105 assists. Young had the highest rebounding average of any Princeton player since 1978 and was also the thirteenth player in school history to reach one hundred assists in a season.^[10] For his college basketball career, Young accumulated 801 points, 350 rebounds, and 142 blocks.^[10] His best game performances included a twenty-point game on the road against the eleventh ranked Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball,^[11] a career-high thirty points against Harvard,^[12] and a school record of nine blocked shots against the Ohio University Bobcats.^[13] During his sophomore baseball season in 2000, Young was the Ivy League's leading pitcher with a 1.82 ERA overall and 1.05 figure in conference games.^[10] He compiled a perfect record of 5–0 in eight appearances, with 52 strikeouts in 49⅓ innings.^[10] Young was a unanimous first-team All-Ivy League baseball selection, and he led the Tigers to their first Ivy League title since 1996.^[14] Young pitched a complete game and struck out seven batters in the 5–2 win in the championship series opener against Dartmouth.^[14] Young was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the third round of the 2000 amateur draft and signed a $1.65 million contract with Pittsburgh on September 6 after holding out until he gained assurances that he would be able to complete his collegiate education.^[14] His athletic career was not entirely on hold as an upperclassman, and he was able to get some low minor league experience before completing his degree at Princeton in politics in June 2002 and becoming a full-time professional athlete.^[14][15] He played class A minor league baseball after his junior year.^[14] Young then completed his senior thesis, entitled "The Impact of Jackie Robinson and the Integration of Baseball on Racial Stereotypes in America: A Quantitative Content Analysis of Stories about Race in the New York Times" while commuting on minor league buses as a player for the Hickory Crawdads.^[14][15] Young was also offered a two-year guaranteed contract to play basketball for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association in 2002 by fellow Princeton alum and Kings President Geoff Petrie.^[14][15]

Professional baseball career

Chris Young warms up between innings

Young was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 3rd round of the 2000 amateur draft.^[16] Young was signed to a deal on September 6, 2000. After a few years of minor league service, he was traded to the Montreal Expos’ organization. The Expos traded him to the Texas Rangers, for whom he eventually made his Major League debut. After less than two seasons with the Rangers he was traded to the San Diego Padres.^[16]

Minor Leagues

In 2001, Young went 5–3, 4.12 in 12 starts for the Hickory Crawdads in the Class-A South Atlantic League, including two complete games.^[17] In 2002, Young helped the Crawdads to league title with a 11–9, 3.11 ERA in 26 starts. In fifteen straight starts from April 16 and July 4, 2002, Young earned a decision. He allowed more than three earned runs in just two of 26 starts. Opposing batters hit .234. He was traded to the Montreal Expos with Jon Searles for pitcher Matt Herges in a post season trade.^[18] Young began the 2003 season on the disabled list before joining the Brevard County Manatees of the Florida State League towards the end of April.^[19] He posted a 5–2 record, with a 1.62 ERA, and held opposing batters to a .150 batting average in eight starts.^[19] His season was highlighted by an eight-inning, one-hit, no walk, eight strikeout performance against the Fort Myers Miracle on May 11, 2003.^[20] This start capped a 3–0, 0.47 ERA start to the season.^[19] In June 2003, Chris was promoted to the Harrisburg Senators of the Double-A Eastern League. He went 4–4 with a 4.01 ERA in 15 starts. In July, he went 3–0 and finished with an ERA of 3.03 over five starts. His season highlighted by an eight-strikeout final outing on August 30, 2003 against the Norwich Navigators and a win on July 27 against the Reading Phillies in which he threw seven shutout innings.^[19][21][22] Chris was traded from the Montreal Expos organization to the Texas Rangers organization on April 3, 2004 in a preseason deal along with Josh McKinley for Einar Diaz and Justin Echols.^[23][16] He started the 2004 season with the Frisco RoughRiders of the Texas League where he went 6–5 with a 4.48 ERA in 18 starts.^[23] The only two home runs he allowed in his final twelve starts and 61 innings with the RoughRiders occurred on July 3, against Round Rock.^[23][24] He struck out a season-high 8 batters on May 9 against El Paso.^[23][25] Young was promoted to the Triple-A Oklahoma RedHawks of the Pacific Coast League in late July and went a perfect 3–0 with a 1.48 ERA in five starts.^[23] During this brief stint he allowed only nine walks while compiling thirty-four strikeouts and he held opposition batters to a .189 average.^[23] He posted 4 quality starts and in his fifth start he only allowed 2 runs. The club was 4–1 in his PCL starts. The only loss was due to a blown save with a 4–2, 9th inning lead on August 7 against the Tacoma Rainiers in a game where Young allowed no earned runs.^[26] He was named Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Week for August 16 to August 22 after his last start on August 18 against the Memphis Redbirds.^[23][27] Young took a no-hitter into the sixth inning of his 2nd Triple-A start on August 2 against the Sacramento River Cats.^[28]

2004 season

Young debuted with the Rangers on August 24, 2004 against the Minnesota Twins. He pitched five and two-thirds innings, giving up four hits and three earned runs, while striking out four, and walking three batters.^[29] Young exited the game trailing 3–0, but was rescued by a comeback walk-off 5–4 win.^[23] This debut made Young the first Princeton baseball player to start a Major League game at any position since Dave Sisler (son of Hall of Famer George Sisler and brother of Dick Sisler) gave up six earned runs in just over four innings on August 27, 1961 in the second game of a doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers.^[4] The game also marked the first appearance in a Major League game by a Princeton baseball player since Robert Tufts played his final game for the Kansas City Royals on May 6, 1983.^[4][30] Other Princeton baseball players who have recorded either 50 innings pitched or 130 at bats (the requirements to qualify for Rookie of the Year) in the major leagues are Moe Berg, Homer Hillebrand, King Lear, Dutch Meier, Dutch Sterrett, and Bobby Vaughn.^[31] The debut, which occurred in a home game at Ameriquest Field in Arlington, served as a homecoming for Young who grew up in nearby Dallas, Texas and went to Highland Park High School.^[4] With his debut, Young became the second-tallest player in Major League Baseball, only an inch shorter than the 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) Jon Rauch.^[32] Three other current and previous pitchers—Randy Johnson,^[33] Andrew Sisco,^[34] and Eric Hillman^[35]—are also 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m). He became the tallest pitcher in Rangers history, surpassing the 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) right-handed pitcher Mike Smithson.^[23] After becoming part of the starting rotation, he made seven starts and compiled a 3–2 record with a 4.71 ERA.^[16] Young signed a 3-year contract through 2007 on November 19.^[23] Young's first Major League decision came during his second start in an August 29 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.^[23][36] His first win came in his third start on September 4 against the Boston Red Sox.^[23][37] His fifth start was a six shutout inning performance in a 1–0 win against the Anaheim Angels on September 19, 2004.^[38][39] This was the first Ranger 1–0 victory since August 25, 2000 against the Toronto Blue Jays,^[40] a stretch of 669 games.^[23]. The club went 5-2 during his starts in his brief 2004 stint with the club.^[23]

2005 season

Young was one of three rookies on the opening day roster.^[41] He made thirty-one starts in 2005 with the Rangers, compiling a 12–7 record with a 4.26 ERA.^[16] His twelve victories tied Kevin Brown's record for most wins by a Rangers rookie.^[42] His season started slowly with seven earned runs allowed 7.1 innings pitched (8.59 ERA) over first two starts.^[41][43][44] However, over the course of eleven starts from April 17–June 13, he lowered his ERA to a season-low 2.78 by going 6–2, 2.18 in 70.1 innings pitched over that stretch.^[41] This included a month of May where he went 3–0, in five starts with a 1.42 ERA that was third-best among all qualifying Major Leaguers for the month.^[41] May included his season high 13.2 scoreless innings recorded in May 3–May 9.^[45][46] He had subsequent hot and cold streaks, with a record of 2–4 and a 9.07 ERA in nine starts from June 20–August 2, followed by a 2.53 ERA over his final nine starts.^[41] He closed out the season wining his final four decisions, which was a personal best.^[41] May 9 was one of two times Young came within an inning of a shutout by pitching eight scoreless innings; August 17 against the Cleveland Indians was the other.^[47][48] Young recorded a personal best eight strikeouts in a seven inning no decision on June 2 at the Detroit Tigers.^[49][50] Young's closest no-hitter was 5.2 innings of hitless pitching against the Houston Astros before allowing a Craig Biggio single in the sixth inning on June 25 at Houston.^[51][52] Over the course of the season Young was the beneficiary of the 2nd-highest run support in the majors, trailing only David Wells of the Boston Red Sox.^[41] However, he surrendered three runs or less in 22 of 31 starts.^[41] After a 2005 season where he went 5–0, 3.47 in 11 games during the day and 7–7, 4.71 in 20 games at night, he had a career 8–1 record with a 3.31 ERA in 15 day games and 7–8, 5.05 in 23 games at night.^[41] Young produced many impressive rookie statistics. He ranked in the top five among qualifying Major League rookies in several statistical categories: strikeouts (second, 137), wins (tied for third, 12), ERA (fourth, 4.26), starts (fifth, 31) and innings pitched (fifth, 164.2).^[41] He also tied Rangers rookie club records: wins (12, Edwin Correa in 1986 and Kevin Brown in 1989) and pre All-Star break wins (8, Jeff Zimmerman in 1999 and Jose Guzman in 1986).^[41] As a rookie he ranked fifth among all American League pitchers with 7.5 strikeouts per 9 innings.^[41] Despite this success, however, he was a key part of an offseason trade that sent Young, Terrmel Sledge, and Adrian Gonzalez to the San Diego Padres for starting pitcher Adam Eaton, middle reliever Akinori Otsuka, and minor-league catcher Billy Killian.^[53]

2006 season

2006 marked Chris Young's breakout season. His ERA continued its downward trend, falling to 3.46 over 31 starts, good enough for 6th best in the National League, and he recorded a career high 169 strikeouts. He finished with an 11–5 record,^[16] led all Major League pitchers with a 2.41 road ERA,^[54][53] allowed a league-leading 6.72 hits per 9 innings pitched, and a .206 opponent batting average.^[16][53] During the season, Young won a National League Pitcher of the Month award, took 3 no-hitters into the sixth inning or beyond, and extended his undefeated road start streak to 24 games.^[53] This streak made Young one of only three pitchers in Major League history to have gone at least 23 straight road starts without a loss; Allie Reynolds set the record at 25 straight road starts spanning the 1948 and 1949 seasons, with Russ Meyer falling one short, going undefeated in 24 straight road contests spanning the 1953 and 1954 seasons.^[53] In his first six starts after Memorial Day, he improved from a 3–3 with a 4.32 ERA to 7–3 with a 2.97 ERA, by allowing only four earned runs over 38⅔ innings. He was named one of five candidates for the National League for Major League Baseball's "All-Star Final Vote" to determine the final official selection for the 2006 Major League Baseball All-Star Game; however, Los Angeles Dodgers' first baseman Nomar Garciaparra was elected.^[55] Nonetheless, his strong June performance during which he allowed 16 hits and 13 walks over 30⅔ June innings, maintained a 1.17 E.R.A and struck out 34 earned him the National League Pitcher of the Month award.^[42][53] His five starts in June were highlighted by a career high twelve strikeout performance on June 9, 2006 against the Florida Marlins and a June 21, 2006 win over his former team, the Texas Rangers.^{[42][56][57][58][59]} On September 22, Young had a no-hitter through 8⅓ innings of the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates before pinch hitter Joe Randa hit a two-run home run.^[60][61] This would have been the first no-hitter in San Diego Padres history.^[60] It was the first time a Padre had taken a no hitter into the ninth inning since Andy Ashby on September 5, 1997 vs. the Atlanta Braves.^[53][62] Young had been on pace for a perfect game through 5⅔ innings.^[63] Young also took a no-hitter into the eighth inning on May 30 against the Rockies as a prelude to his June performance.^[60] In that game, which marked the first time a pitcher took a no-hitter into eighth inning during the 2006 season,^[3] he surrendered a double to Brad Hawpe on his first pitch of the eighth inning and 99th of the game.^[64][65] During Young's next start on June 4 2006 at Pittsburgh he did not allow a hit for the first 5⅓ innings,^[66][67] making him one of only two pitchers (Steve Trachsel—June 20–25, 2002)^[68][69] to have consecutive starts with at least five hitless innings since the 2000 season.^[3][70] He ended the season by winning his only career postseason start; on October 7, he earned a 3–1 victory in Game 3 of the 2006 National League Division Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.^[71] He pitched 6⅔ shutout innings, struck out nine, walked two and allowed four hits.^[71] It remains the Padres' only victory in ten post-season games against the Cardinals. The Padres lost the series three games to one. Young's 6–0 2006 road performance was one of forty-nine undefeated road seasons with at least five victories by a pitcher since post-season play began in 1903. However, it was the first to be followed by a post-season road victory.^[72] In November, he traveled to Japan to take part in the Major League Baseball Japan All-Star Series.^[73][74] Young was the starter in an exhibition game against the Yomiuri Giants, which was memorable for the Major leaguers' three run ninth inning rally to earn a tie.^[75] This game was the prelude to the 5-game series which began with three games at the Tokyo Dome and was followed by games in Osaka, Japan and Fukuoka, Japan.^[76] Young pitched the fourth game of the series. Young also blogged on behalf of mlb.com about daily life during the trip. He detailed visits with United States Ambassador to Japan Tom Schieffer, time in the Harajuku, and travels on the Bullet Train.^[73]

2007 season

Chris Young during deilvery

Chris Young batting against Chicago Cubs' starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano shortly before the brawl on June 16, 2007.

In his season debut on April 4 against the San Francisco Giants, Young became the 435th different pitcher to surrender a home run to Barry Bonds when he surrendered Bonds' first of the season and 735th of his career.^[77] The game marked Young's twenty-fifth consecutive road start without a loss.^[77] Young was 9–0 during the streak, which ended in his subsequent road start on April 15 at Dodger Stadium in a 9–3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.^[54][78] The last of the nine other pitchers to go twenty consecutive road starts without a loss was Greg Maddux who went twenty-two starts without a loss during the 1997 and 1998.^[79] Young's streak began on June 25, 2005.^[54][79][80] On April 10, Chris Young signed a four-year extension with the Padres through the 2010 season, reportedly worth $14.5 million with a club option for 2011.^[81] On June 16, Young threw a pitch that hit Chicago Cubs All-star first baseman Derrek Lee on the back of the upper left arm.^[82] The day before the fracas, Alfonso Soriano homered off David Wells and the Padres believed Soriano showed poor sportsmanship by admiring and celebrating his home run.^[82] The pitch nicked Lee's left hand near his surgically repaired wrist.^[83][84] When Lee began walking towards first base, both he and Young exchanged words, and a bench-clearing altercation ensued.^[84] Both Young and Lee were ejected from the game, along with Jake Peavy and Cubs' bench coach Gerald Perry. On June 18, Young and Lee were suspended 5 games each for their roles in the brawl and Perry was suspended 3 games. All suspended parties were fined as were Peavy and Brian Giles.^[85] Young and Lee, however, appealed their suspensions, which were to begin the following day.^[86][87] At the time of the scuffle in the fourth inning both pitchers were working on no-hitters. Young was ejected in the game, and he earned a no decision in the game which the Padres ultimately won 1–0.^[88] On June 24, Jake Peavy surrendered three earned runs in five innings which caused his ERA to rise from 1.98 to 2.14.^[89] This gave Young who had a 2.08 ERA the National League leading average for one day. The next day, Brad Penny allowed only one earned run over eight innings to take the lead with a 2.04 ERA. ^[90] On July 1, Young was nominated as a candidate for the All-Star Final Vote, contending against Tom Gorzelanny, Roy Oswalt, Brandon Webb, and Carlos Zambrano.^[91] In a bid for the final spot on July 4, Young posted 7 scoreless innings in a 1–0 victory over the Florida Marlins to not only retake the National League ERA lead, but also assume the Major League lead over Brad Penny by a slim margin (1.9968 to 1.9970)^[92] The voting ended on July 5, with Young defeating the four opposing pitchers to earn his first career All-Star Game selection.^[1] The selection made Young the sixth Ivy League athlete named to the All-Star team (Lou Gehrig, Red Rolfe, Ron Darling, Brad Ausmus and Mike Remlinger).^[93] Young entered the All-Star break with the Major League lead in ERA and opponent batting average as well as an undefeated streak extending back to a May 12 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.^[94][95] Prior to the announcement of his election, Young dropped his appeal of the 5 game suspension.^[96] Young served his suspension during the final four games before the All-Star break and the first game afterwards, yet was allowed to play in the All-Star game at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California.^[97] In fifth inning of the 5–4 American League victory for which Young was the losing pitcher, Young surrendered the first inside-the-park home run in All-Star game history to Ichiro Suzuki.^[98] He was placed on the disabled list after he incurred a strained oblique muscle during the third inning of his July 24 start.^[99] On August 9, he was activated off the disabled list to make a scheduled start. He took a twelve start (5 decision) undefeated streak,^[100] dating back to a May 12 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals,^[101] into his first start off the disabled list, but he took the loss in a 5–0 defeat, which was again against the Cardinals.^[102] Young ended the 2007 season as the Major League leader in opponent batting average, and hits per nine innings. Young battled injuries late in the season and surrendered the ERA leadership to Jake Peavy in his August 30 start.^[103]

Pitching style

Young is not a traditional power pitcher. He is said to be a control pitcher in a 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) power pitcher's body in the sense that his pitching style is more like Greg Maddux' instead of the well-known 5-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series co-MVP Randy Johnson, who shares the same height and stature as Young.^[104] Young has been traded three times in his career partly because of the low velocity of his fastball, which is in the 85–90 mph (136.8–144.8 km/h) range and which did not give his employers an indication of his likely effectiveness. Young has learned how to use precise location to make his fastball effective. He has also been compared to another control pitcher, Jim Palmer, because Young induces popups and fly ball outs with deceptive late movement on his high fastballs much like Palmer.^[105] Over 50% of the balls put in play against him are fly balls.^[106] He has been extremely successful at inducing weak contact on flyballs with an extraordinarily low 3.8% of his flyballs ending up as home runs so far in 2007,^[107] while the average is about 11%.^[106] From 2003 to 2006 the best single season percentage was 6.2% by Dontrelle Willis in 2005.^[106] Young's repertoire includes fastballs, curveballs, sliders and changeups. His curveball is a slow curveball and his 90 mph (144.8 km/h) fastball has been described by former teammate and catcher Mike Piazza as having late life and late movement that seems to jump. His curveball is used to keep the hitters off balance so that they don't jump on his low velocity fastball.^[108] Former Ranger pitching coach, Orel Hershiser, says Young has the ability to throw his fastball to all locations effectively which gives him a chance at success. Hershiser describes Young's pitches as sneaky fast because his methodical delivery and size give him deception.^[109]

Batting

As of the end of the 2007 Major League Baseball season, Young is a career .124 hitter and has only thirteen hits, four of which were extra-base hits (three doubles and one triple). He has yet to either hit a home run or record a stolen base. The only Princeton players who have hit a home run or recorded a stolen base at least once during their careers are Moe Berg, Dutch Sterrett, Homer Hillebrand, Dutch Meier, Ted Reed, and Bobby Vaughn. Berg is the most recent player to have accomplished either of these feats.^[31]

Career statistics

•      Selected as All-Star
•      Led NL
•      Led MLB
• Through 2007 Regular season.^{[16][110][111]}

Photo gallery

Personal

Young's wife, Elizabeth Patrick, is the granddaughter of Lester Patrick, who was the namesake of the National Hockey League's Patrick Division and the Lester Patrick Trophy.^[3] She was also a member of the Princeton University class of 2002, and she attends law school in Washington, DC.^[14]

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
• Sabermetric Blog about Young