Michael Young (baseball)

Michael Young
Young fielding for the Rangers.
Philadelphia Phillies – No. 10
Infielder
Born: (1976-10-19) October 19, 1976 Covina, California
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
MLB debut
September 29, 2000 for the Texas Rangers
Career statistics (through May 1, 2013)
Batting average	.302
Home runs	178
Runs batted in	990
Hits	2,261
On-base percentage	.348
Teams
Texas Rangers (2000–2012) Philadelphia Phillies (2013–present)
Career highlights and awards
7× All-Star (2004–2009, 2011) Gold Glove Award winner (2008) 2005 American League batting champion 2006 MLB All-Star Game MVP

Michael Brian Young (born October 19, 1976) is a Major League Baseball infielder for the Philadelphia Phillies. Originally a second baseman, the versatile Young is a five time All-Star at shortstop, once at third base, and once as a combination designated hitter and utility infielder. He was the 2005 American League batting champion. He previously played 13 season with the Texas Rangers and was traded to the Phillies on December 8, 2012 after agreeing to waive his no-trade clause.

Young played baseball in high school at Bishop Amat Memorial High School and in college at University of California, Santa Barbara (UC-Santa Barbara). He was originally drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in 1994, but elected to return to college and was eventually drafted in 1997 by the Toronto Blue Jays. After spending several seasons in the minor leagues with the Blue Jays, they traded him to the Rangers where he spent over a decade. While with the Rangers, he set several club records in offensive statistic categories including runs scored and total bases.

Early life

Young attended Bishop Amat Memorial High School in La Puente, California, followed by the University of California, Santa Barbara, to which he later donated money to refurbish the school's baseball field.

Young was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 25th round of the 1994 Major League Baseball Draft but did not sign. Three years later the Toronto Blue Jays selected him in the fifth round of the 1997 Major League Baseball Draft. Young signed with the Blue Jays, who traded him in 2000 with pitcher Darwin Cubillán to the Rangers for Esteban Loaiza while Young was still in their minor league system.

Professional career

Minor leagues (1997-2000)

Young made his professional debut in 1997 with the St. Catharines Blue Jays in the New York-Penn League (NY-Penn) (short-season A). Among his achievements in the NY-Penn League were a 16-game hitting streak, tying for fifth in the league with 48 RBIs, and tying for third in the league with 136 total bases. In 1998, he spent the season with the Hagerstown Suns of the South Atlantic League. Playing second base, he led all players at his position in fielding percentage. 1999 would be an all-star season for Young. Playing for the Dunedin Blue Jays of the Florida State League, he earned spots on both the midseason and postseason all star teams by leading the league in doubles and finishing fourth in batting average and hits, .313 and 155 respectively. After the regular season, he played for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes in the California Fall League. He split 2000 between Double-A and Triple-A and, on July 19, was traded to the Rangers. The Rangers purchased his contract on September 27 and he played the final five games of the season in the majors making his debut as a pinch runner. Though he began, 2001 in Triple-A, he was recalled to the majors on May 25 and did not return to the minors at all during the season.

Texas Rangers (2000-2012)

Young reached the Majors briefly in 2000, playing 2nd and getting two at-bats. He hit .249 in 106 games as a second baseman in 2001. In 2002, Young placed 2nd in fielding among second basemen with a .988 fielding percentage. In 2003, Young was 3rd in the league in hits with 204, and led all second baseman with a batting average of .306. Young had a fielding percentage of .987.

Young moved to short in 2004 to make room for newly acquired second baseman Alfonso Soriano, filling the hole left by the departure of regular Ranger's shortstop Alex Rodriguez. He was second in the American League in hits with 216 and at bats with 690, 4th in runs with 114, and 9th in batting with an average of .313. Young finished second among shortstops in RBIs, with 99.

Young won the AL batting title in 2005 with an average of .331, and was first in MLB in hits with 221. He was 2nd in AL in at bats with 668, and his 114 runs were 5th-best in the AL. His 40 doubles were the 8th-best in the AL. Young also established a career-high in home runs with 24. Young's 91 RBIs placed him second among all shortstops in the AL.

Michael Young on April 27, 2009

Young was elected to the U.S. 2006 World Baseball Classic roster. In the 2006 MLB All-Star Game held at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Young was rewarded with the Ted Williams Major League Baseball All-Star Game MVP Award after hitting a game-winning two-run triple in the 9th inning.

During the 2006 season, Young was 13th in the AL in batting with an average of .314. He was second in the majors in hits, with 217, doubles, at 52, and at bats, with 691. Young set a career high and led all shortstops in RBIs with 103. Young was 1st in the AL in fielding percentage at shortstop with .981. Young also played all 162 games of the 2006 season. Young became the 29th player to accumulate 200 hits, 50 doubles, and 100 RBIs in a season. Young became just the 5th player in Major League history to collect 215 hits in three consecutive seasons.

In March 2007, Young agreed to an $80,000,000 contract extension that would have kept him with the Rangers until 2013.

Young finished the 2007 season with a batting average of .315, which led the Rangers and was 11th-highest in the AL. Young also led the Rangers with 94 RBIs and was second among all shortstops in the AL. Young was second on the team and tied a career high in stolen bases with 13. Young's 201 hits were 4th in the AL, and marked the 5th consecutive 200-hit season, joining Ichiro Suzuki and Wade Boggs as the only players to do so since 1940 and just the second middle infielder, along with Charlie Gehringer, to have accomplished that feat.

Young played in the longest All-Star game in history. He drove in the game-winning RBI at the 2008 MLB All-Star Game after four hours and 40 minutes of playing time. Also, in 2008 Young won the Gold Glove at shortstop for the American League.

In 2009, Young moved to third base to make room for shortstop prospect Elvis Andrus. The Rangers did not consult Young on this, and he requested a trade. He quickly rescinded the request.

On April 19, 2009, Young hit his first career walk-off home run, off Royals pitcher Kyle Farnsworth. Young was voted on the AL 2009 All Star team by the players.

On June 16, 2010, Young hit a ground ball up the middle off the Florida Marlins' Jay Buente to collect his 1,748th career hit, and pass Ivan Rodriguez to become the Rangers' career leader in hits. On defense, in 2010 he tied for the AL lead in errors by a third baseman, with 19, and had the lowest fielding percentage among them, at .950.

Michael Young on April 25, 2009

During the 2010–11 offseason, Young said that the Rangers had "misled and manipulated" him and requested a trade. The Rangers, having acquired free agent third baseman Adrián Beltré, planned to have Young be the team's primary designated hitter as well as a utility infielder, and see time at first base for the first time in his career. He was a 2011 American League All Star.

On August 7, 2011, Young hit an infield single against Josh Tomlin of the Cleveland Indians for his 2,000th career hit.

In 2011, Young batted .338 (3rd in the American League) with 11 home runs, primarily splitting his time between DH (69 games), third base (40 games), and first base (36 games). He tied with Adrian Gonzalez for the AL lead in hits (213), and was 5th in RBIs (106) and sacrifice flies (9), 8th in on base percentage (.380), and 10th in doubles (41).

After Young struggled in the 2012 season, the Rangers asked Young if he desired a trade, as they planned to cut his playing time for the 2013 season. Young did not request one, but the Rangers began to pursue a trade, and eventually traded him to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Rangers career rankings

As of August 9, 2012, Young is leads the Rangers in several stat categories including games played (1774), hits (2178), doubles (406), triples (55), runs scored (1057), at bats (7221), strikeouts (1132), extra-base hits (632), and total bases (3210). He is third all time in runs batted in with 962 and is sixth all time in home runs with 172. He also owns several single-season records including most multi-hit games (70 in 2004), most hits (221 in 2005), doubles (52 in 2006), and at bats and plate appearances in 2006 (691 and 748 respectively).

Philadelphia Phillies (2013-present)

Young agreed to waive his no-trade clause and was traded to the Phillies in exchange for pitcher Josh Lindblom and minor league pitcher Lisalverto Bonilla. The deal reunited him with former teammates Cliff Lee and Mike Adams. The Phillies were monitoring Young for some time prior to his acquisition. Their former Hall of Fame third baseman Mike Schmidt said, "we got a Derek Jeter kind of player on our team all of a sudden... He's two or three Michael Young years away from being a Hall of Famer, first ballot maybe." Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro, Jr. and manager Charlie Manuel also were fond of Young and made him a target headed into the Winter Meetings. Once they agreed to a deal, Young had to approve it, which he did, later mentioning say that he would only have done so to go to a winning team like the Phillies. The Phillies view Young as a stop-gap to get them to top prospect Cody Asche.

Young missed five games while on the bereavement list in late May and early June to tend to his nine-month old son, who was hospitalized; his son was later discharged and Young returned to action for the Phillies.

Personal life

Young's mother is of Mexican descent. Young met his wife Cristina, also of Mexican descent, while in high school. They have three sons (Mateo, Emilio, and Antonio). Young's hobbies include billiards and golf. Young is a cousin of former WBO Light Welterweight boxing champion Zack Padilla. Another of his cousins, Jason Young, also played minor league baseball. Young contributes both his time and money to charitable organizations. He and his wife are very active sponsors in the Wipe Out Kids' Cancer campaign. In 2006, Young began the Young Heroes Scholarship Program, and in 2010, the Michael Young Family Hispanic Scholarship Program was established. In July 2011, Young and his wife announced the launch of the Michael Young Family Foundation, a charity which supports the involvement of children's health in all areas: physical social, mental, and educational. Young is represented by baseball agent Dan Lozano. Young is a two-time winner of the Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award winning in 2008 and 2011. He is one of only three players who have won multiple times (John Smoltz and Jim Thome).

See also

• List of Major League Baseball batting champions
• List of Major League Baseball Hit Records

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Ichiro Suzuki	American League Batting Champion 2005	Succeeded by Joe Mauer
Preceded by Miguel Tejada	Major League Baseball All-Star Game Most Valuable Player 2006	Succeeded by Ichiro Suzuki