Young Better Than Today's Youth

Michael Young of the Texas Rangers is and has been Major League Baseball’s most underrated shortstop for years, outperforming the league’s best for over half of a decade. After debuting with Texas in 2000, Young became a staple up the middle for the Rangers. He took over second base duties in 2001, as he was blocked at shortstop by Alex Rodriguez and his 10 year $252 million contract. After three years, A-Rod was shipped to the Bronx for then second baseman Alfonso Soriano. This move opened up shortstop for Young and allowed Soriano to take over second base for the Rangers (where he committed 23 errors in ’04 and 21 in ’05).

Since then, Young has been arguably the most productive shortstop offensively and certainly one of the game’s most solid defenders at the position, as he carries a career fielding percentage of .980. No easy task for someone who has spent his entire career in the infield and has played in at least 156 games in each of the past six full seasons. He could potentially extend that number to seven at the conclusion of this year.

Additionally, the 31 year-old Covina, California native has collected at least 200 hits in each of the past five seasons. To put this achievement into perspective, Derek Jeter cannot make this claim. Reigning NL MVP Jimmy Rollins, third year phenom Hanley Ramirez, and former perennial All-Star SS Nomar Garciaparra have each all reached the 200 hit plateau only once in their careers. Edgar Renteria, Rafael Furcal, Jose Reyes, J.J. Hardy, and Omar Vizquel have never even reached 200 hits in a season. Young has also hit over .300 in each of those seasons and owns a career batting average of .302. This year, he is currently on pace to finish with 203 hits if he plays in each of the final 66 games. Also, of the aforementioned band of talented shortstops, only Vizquel (.984) and Rollins (.982) have higher career fielding percentages. Young is also currently battling a hairline fracture on his left ring finger, but has nixed any possibility of a DL stint.

Michael Young has delivered the game winning RBI in two of the last three All-Star Games, including the 15th inning sacrifice fly off of Brad Lidge two nights ago. The other came in 2006 on an eventual game winning triple. Also, since the start of the 2003 season (5 ½ seasons) he has maintained a .357 batting average with runners in scoring position. Needless to say, he is an extremely clutch performer.

Young is also the real catalyst in the Rangers’ lineup. Much has been made of Texas’ leadoff man Ian Kinsler’s breakout season and of Josh Hamilton’s thumping of the league’s pitching. His knack for making contact behind the speedy Kinsler allows the Rangers to play hit and run with less risk. Since Young is so dangerous with the bat, pitchers are forced to go after him with their better breaking stuff, allowing Kinsler (23 steals in 24 attempts) to run more freely. Hamilton entered the All-Star Break with 95 RBI’s, second most all-time. Young’s high batting average, baserunning abilities (6 SB in 6 attempts), and on-base percentage of .350 allow Hamilton more RBI opportunities.

Young’s tenure with the organization has seen three different General Managers and four managers. He is also currently the longest tenured player on the Rangers’ roster, barely edging reliever Joaquin Benoit, who debuted in 2001. The general theme is that Michael Young is the epitome of consistency in baseball, and has close to a decade of good baseball ahead of him.

As modest as they come, Young always offers praise for his teammates when asked about his own accomplishments and abilities. Never has he made public a complaint about playing in the shadow of other shortstop standouts like Jeter, Rollins, and Reyes. In this age of Prima Donna and thug icons in sports, Michael has always carried himself in an exemplary manner and behaved in model fashion on and off the field. The Rangers truly have an all-around gem in Michael Young. He contributes on all levels within the game and will always receive my highest commendation.