Chris Young

Christopher Ryan Young (born May 25, 1979) is an American former professional baseball pitcher and current general manager of the Texas Rangers since 2020.

As a sophomore in the fall of 1995, he was moved up to the varsity basketball team from the junior varsity due to injuries.

As a junior, his presence was significant enough that one opposing team practiced with a coach holding a broom in the air to simulate playing against him.

He helped his team reach the Class 4A-state Region II final.

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.

As a junior in baseball, Young threw a no-hitter against McKinney High School in Spring 1997.

However, he missed a large part of the season after getting off to a 6–0 start because of a stress fracture in his foot.

Nonetheless, he was already considered a top professional prospect, and he was named as one of seven Highland Park players on the all-district team.

By the summer of 1997, he was able to play for the Dallas Mustangs who were the defending national champions in the Connie Mack World Series, and he earned the win in the fifth place game of the World Series.

By January of Young's senior season, he had led his basketball team to a district-leading 23–1 (4–0 in district) record and first place in both The Dallas Morning News' Class 4A area poll and the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches' state poll.

Young developed a reputation as a finesse post player, and that season he led his team to the UIL State Tournament championship game.

Highland Park lost to Houston's Waltrip High School and Young was credited with a tournament-high 18 rebounds by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, although The Dallas Morning News only credited him with 17 points and 14 rebounds.

Young finished his senior season as a Texas Association of Basketball Coaches' first-team All-State selection and the District 9-4A Most Valuable Player.

He was later chosen to play in the mid-summer Texas High School Coaches Association's Southwestern All-Star basketball game at the Hofheinz Pavilion.

Young announced he planned to attend Princeton in May 1998.

He chose Princeton over Boston College, University of Oklahoma, University of Pennsylvania, University of Texas, Vanderbilt University, and Yale University.

Young's decision was based on Princeton's rising national profile in basketball and the opportunity to work with baseball coach Scott Bradley, who had played catcher for the Seattle Mariners while 6–10 pitcher Randy Johnson was with the team.

On May 9, 1998, Young was involved in a combined no-hitter when he pitched into the fifth inning against Moisés E. Molina High School and was relieved by Mike Matthews.

Highland Park won this game, which was the clinching Region II best-of-3 bi-district series game, by the 10-run rule.

Young displayed home run power as a senior, and in some games, he played designated hitter.

Later that month, Young pitched another no-hitter in another 10-run rule victory, this time against Carthage High School.

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.

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.

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'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.

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.

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 was elected to the 2007 MLB All-Star Game as a first-time All-Star via the All-Star Final Vote.

Young attended Highland Park High School in University Park, where he played basketball and baseball.

He lettered three times in basketball, in a career in which he scored over 1,000 points, and accumulated 500 rebounds and 200 blocks.

He was a two-year letterman in baseball, compiling a 14–3 record with 180 strikeouts.

In basketball, he averaged 16 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 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 is 6 ft, 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 ft and Young's teammate on the 2012 New York Mets) and Sean Hjelle.

After his playing career, he worked for the Major League Baseball front office before becoming the general manager of the Rangers in 2020.