Chris Young (pitcher)

Chris Young
Young with the Kansas City Royals in 2016
Texas Rangers
Pitcher / General manager
Born: (1979-05-25) May 25, 1979 (age 44) Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
August 24, 2004, for the Texas Rangers
Last MLB appearance
June 17, 2017, for the Kansas City Royals
MLB statistics
Win–loss record	79–67
Earned run average	3.95
Strikeouts	1,062
Teams
Texas Rangers (2004–2005) San Diego Padres (2006–2010) New York Mets (2011–2012) Seattle Mariners (2014) Kansas City Royals (2015–2017) As general manager Texas Rangers (2020–present)
Career highlights and awards
All-Star (2007) 2× World Series champion (2015, 2023) AL Comeback Player of the Year (2014)

Christopher Ryan Young (born May 25, 1979) is an American former professional baseball pitcher and current general manager of the Texas Rangers since 2020. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher from 2000 to 2017 for the Texas Rangers, San Diego Padres, New York Mets, Seattle Mariners and the Kansas City Royals. Young was a 2007 National League (NL) All-Star player as a member of the Padres, and was a member of the 2015 World Series winning Kansas City Royals team. After his playing career, he worked for the Major League Baseball front office before becoming the general manager of the Rangers in 2020.

At the age of 25, Young made his MLB debut on August 24, 2004 with the Rangers. He had previously excelled in basketball and baseball at Highland Park High School in University Park, Texas, and Princeton University.

Young helped Highland Park reach the Class 4A Region II basketball final in 1997 and the Class 4A Texas state basketball final in 1998. He tossed a no-hitter in 1997 while compiling a 6–0 record, helping Highland Park reach the Class 4A Texas state baseball final. During his senior year, he was District Most Valuable Player in basketball, and led his baseball team to the state championship, while pitching in two no-hitters. That year, he was a first-team All-State selection in basketball and baseball. After a high school career as an athlete and scholar, Young excelled in both baseball and basketball for Princeton University and became the Ivy League's first male two-sport Rookie of the Year.

Selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the third round of the June 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 June. Additionally, he extended his streak of consecutive undefeated games started as a visiting pitcher to 24, and 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.^[1] 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.

He is 6 feet 10 inches (2.08 m), which makes him, along with former pitchers Eric Hillman, Randy Johnson, Andrew Brackman and Andrew Sisco, the second tallest player in baseball history, next to relief pitcher Jon Rauch (who is 6 feet 11 inches (2.11 m) and Young's teammate on the 2012 New York Mets) and Sean Hjelle. He was elected to the 2007 MLB All-Star Game as a first-time All-Star via the All-Star Final Vote.^[2]