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.

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.

[14] Young developed a reputation as a finesse post player,[15][16] and that season he led his team to the UIL State Tournament championship game.

[20] 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.

[21] 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'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.

[32][33] In his freshman season at Princeton University, Young was the first male athlete to be named Ivy League Rookie of the Year in two sports—basketball and baseball—and was a unanimous selection for both awards.

[44] Young then completed his senior thesis, entitled "The Impact of Jackie Robinson and the Integration of Baseball on Racial Stereotypes in America: A Quantitative Content Analysis of Stories about Race in the New York Times" while commuting on minor league buses as a player for the Hickory Crawdads.

[50] Young began the 2003 season on the disabled list before joining the Brevard County Manatees of the Florida State League towards the end of April.

His season was highlighted by an eight-strikeout final outing on August 30 against the Norwich Navigators and a win on July 27 against the Reading Phillies in which he threw seven shutout innings.

[51][53][54] He was traded by the Montreal Expos to the Texas Rangers organization on April 3, 2004, in a preseason deal along with Josh McKinley for Einar Díaz and Justin Echols.

The only loss was due to a blown save with a 4–2 ninth-inning lead on August 7 against the Tacoma Rainiers in a game in which Young allowed no earned runs.

[65][66] The debut, which occurred in a home game at Ameriquest Field in Arlington, served as a homecoming for Young who grew up in nearby Dallas, Texas and went to Highland Park High School.

[76] Despite this success, however, he was a key part of an offseason trade that also sent Terrmel Sledge and Adrián González to the San Diego Padres for starting pitcher Adam Eaton, middle reliever Akinori Otsuka and minor-league catcher Billy Killian.

He finished with an 11–5 record,[48] led all major league pitchers with a 2.41 road ERA,[88][89] allowed a league-leading 6.72 hits per 9 innings pitched, and a .206 opponent batting average.

During the season, Young won a National League Pitcher of the Month award, took a no-hitter into the sixth inning or beyond three times, and extended his undefeated road start streak to 24 games.

[91] Nonetheless, his strong June performance – during which he allowed 16 hits and 13 walks over 30+2⁄3 innings, maintained a 1.17 ERA and struck out 34 – earned him the National League Pitcher of the Month award.

[77][92][93][94][95] On September 22, Young had a no-hitter through 8+1⁄3 innings of the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates before pinch hitter Joe Randa hit a two-run home run.

[3][106] He ended the season by winning his first career postseason start; on October 7, he earned a 3–1 victory in Game 3 of the 2006 National League Division Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

[116] On June 16, Young threw a pitch that hit Chicago Cubs All-Star first baseman Derrek Lee on the back of the upper left arm.

[125] On July 1, Young was nominated as a candidate for the All-Star Final Vote, contending against Tom Gorzelanny, Roy Oswalt, Brandon Webb and Carlos Zambrano.

[2] The selection made Young the sixth Ivy League athlete named to the All-Star team (joining Lou Gehrig, Red Rolfe, Ron Darling, Brad Ausmus and Mike Remlinger).

[128] Young entered the All-Star break with the major league lead in ERA and opponent batting average as well as an undefeated streak extending back to a May 12 loss to the Cardinals.

[131] In the fifth inning of the 5–4 American League victory for which Young was the losing pitcher, he surrendered the first inside-the-park home run in All-Star game history to Ichiro Suzuki.

[135] Young ended the 2007 season as the major league leader in opponent batting average and hits per nine innings, but also in stolen bases allowed (with 44).

[178] By early June, Young was in the conversation for Major League Baseball Comeback Player of the Year Award, with a 5–2 start and 3.27 ERA, according to MLB.com's Adam Lewis.

In helping to stabilize a rotation battered by injuries and ineffectual fifth starters, Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon was unabashed in his praise of the right-hander at the time, calling him a "godsend".

[188] On June 16, Young posted 7 shutout innings and 3 runs batted in against the Milwaukee Brewers, becoming the first Royals pitcher to tally 3 RBI in a game since 1972.

[205][206] In February 2020, Young was promoted to senior vice president to replace Joe Torre as the MLB's enforcer of discipline action, such as deciding fines and suspensions.

He had also been compared to another control pitcher, Jim Palmer, because Young similarly induced popups and fly ball outs with deceptive late movement on his high fastballs.