http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=5302
by Kevin Goldstein
If Diamondbacks center field prospect Chris Young has a problem with anything,
it bad timing.
Exhibit One: June of 2001. Young was a star at national powerhouse Bellaire
High School near Houston. A rail-thin outfielder who was expected to be drafted
somewhere in the sixth-to-tenth round, Young broke his arm in a collision just
three days before the June selections began. "I thought the White Sox were
going to take me," recalled Young. "But after I broke my arm, I didn't even
know if I'd get taken at all." The White Sox did eventually select Young, but
not until the 16th round. Young took it in stride, without putting a chip on
his shoulder. "That little signing bonus doesn't make a different in the long
run when you're talking about playing in the big leagues," said Young. Or did
it? "At the same time, I wanted to prove to everybody that I should have gone
higher," he added.
Fast forward nearly five years to the spring of 2006, and Young has done just
that. In short order, Young established himself as one of the premier
power/speed combinations in the minor leagues, coming off a .277/.377/.545
campaign at Double-A Birmingham that included 26 home runs and 32 stolen bases.
The top prospect in the White Sox system, he was the key to an offseason deal
that sent starter Javier Vasquez to Chicago, and this spring was preparing to
impress a new organization when bad timing struck again.
"I was working out, getting ready for spring training and one of the drills
involves doing box jumps where you start in a standing position and jump on
top of a box," recalled the 22-year-old outfielder. "I guess I was standing
too close to the box, and when I flung my arms forward, they hit the box--and
that's hard wood--I knew it was bad." X-rays revealed a broken bone in the top
of his hand, and the necessary recovery time would keep Young out of spring
training. "It was frustrating--you want to make a good impression with the
new team and then you can't even play."
Young wouldn't join the team at Triple-A Tucson until late April, and he
struggled initially, batting .244 with one home run in his first 18 games.
A different kind of timing was to blame this time. "The hand wasn't one
hundred percent normal, but I don't think it affected my game," said Young.
"It was all timing--I hadn't seen live pitching for a long time, and those
first few weeks were like my spring training."
Young has recovered to hit 13 home runs in 47 games since, and was batting
.271/.359/.508 overall as the season moved into the second half. He ended the
first half in style, smacking a game winning grand slam in the Sidewinders'
final game before the all-star break.
While his averages at the break are similar to last season's numbers, Young
has made significant progress in addressing the one concern about his offensive
game: too many strikeouts. While he cut his strikeout total from 145 in 2004
to 129 last year, this year the progress has been more dramatic, as Young has
struck out 48 times in 262 at-bats. Young credits the change in part to this
year's spring training, and while that might sound strange considering the
fact that he didn't play, Young insists that his time in big league camp was
an eye-opener. "I would just hang out in the locker room and listen to
everyone. It was equal ground in there whether you're a veteran or a rookie--
just very welcoming," Young said, while also crediting what he learned by
studying spring training games from the bench. "You watch big league hitters
and they're not afraid to take strikes because it might not be the pitch that
they're looking for," Young added. "It's all about staying calm and staying
confident and I've tried to bring that confidence to my game this year."
Calm and confident is the same way Young describes his team--one of the more
prospect-filled ones in Triple-A that includes shortstop Stephen Drew,
outfielder Carlos Quentin and righthander Dustin Nippert. With a record of
57-33, Tucson has the second best record in the Pacific Coast League and leads
their division by 13 games, but Young insists that ability is just one part of
winning. "Our success goes a lot further than natural talent," surmised Young.
"There's an attitude here where nobody gives up--there's always a lot of
confidence in the dugout about this team winning and also a lot of drive
and motivation here--they're always working with coaches or watching video
to work on problems--you can see why they're good when you see how hard they
work."
When Young's teammate Drew was selected to the Futures Game this year--leaving
Young at home after playing in the all-star prospect exhibition last year--
Young nonetheless enjoyed the game like a true teammate. "I still watched it
for sure. Drew was there, [White Sox third baseman and former Birmingham
teammate Josh] Fields was there--Josh tore it up and we talked right after
the game," recalled Young. "It's all good--I got my chance to play in it last
year, and this year I had friends there," said Young.
Besides, Young has a much bigger goal in his mind now, and while he does use
his fair share of cliches, he knows that the biggest one for minor league
players is one that nobody believes.
"I could give you the cliche about getting to the majors and how I don't think
about it and how I don't control it, but I'd be lying if I said that and you
know it," said Young. "We're at Triple-A here--we all have it in the back of
our mind. I'm very excited about that day."
Assuming another case of bad timing doesn't strike, that day will come sooner
rather than later.
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