Michael Young (baseball)

Since 2014, Young has worked in the Rangers’ front office as a Special Assistant to the General Manager.

Originally a second baseman, the versatile Young was a five-time All-Star at shortstop, once at third base, and once as a combination designated hitter / utility infielder.

After spending several seasons in the minor leagues with the Blue Jays, Young was traded to the Rangers, where he spent over a decade.

While with the Rangers, Young set several club records in offensive statistical categories, including runs scored and total bases.

Three years later the Toronto Blue Jays selected him in the fifth round of the 1997 Major League Baseball draft.

[3] Young made his professional debut in 1997 with the St. Catharines Blue Jays in the New York–Penn League (NY-Penn) (short-season A).

After the regular season, he played for the Rancho Cucamonga Surfers in the California Fall League.

He split 2000 between Double-A and Triple-A and,[citation needed] on July 19, was traded to the Rangers with Darwin Cubillán for Esteban Loaiza.

[10] After the 2006 MLB All-Star Game held at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Young was awarded the Major League Baseball All-Star Game MVP Award after hitting a game-winning two-run triple in the ninth inning.

Young's 201 hits were 4th in the AL, and marked the 5th consecutive 200-hit season, joining Ichiro Suzuki and Wade Boggs as the only players to do so since 1940 and just the second middle infielder, along with Charlie Gehringer, to have accomplished that feat.

He drove in the game-winning RBI at the 2008 MLB All-Star Game after four hours and 40 minutes of playing time.

[16] On April 19, 2009, Young hit his first career walk-off home run, off Royals pitcher Kyle Farnsworth.

[21] He tied with Adrián González for the AL lead in hits (213), and was 5th in RBIs (106) and sacrifice flies (9), 8th in on-base percentage (.380), and 10th in doubles (41).

[24] He also held several single-season records including most multi-hit games (70 in 2004), most hits (221 in 2005), doubles (52 in 2006), and at bats and plate appearances in 2006 (691 and 748 respectively).

Their former Hall of Fame third baseman Mike Schmidt said, "we got a Derek Jeter kind of player on our team all of a sudden ...

"[29] On August 31, 2013, he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for minor league pitcher Rob Rasmussen.

[30] In the last year of his contract, Young again waived his no-trade clause to join his hometown team for an expected playoff run.

[32] Young made his Dodgers debut on September 1, 2013 pinch hitting in a game against the Colorado Rockies.

After initially considering some offers as a free agent, Young announced his retirement from baseball on January 31, 2014.

[21] On November 5, 2014, Young was hired by the Texas Rangers as a special assistant to general manager Jon Daniels.

[36] On July 30, 2016, Young was inducted into the Texas Rangers Baseball Hall of Fame in a pregame ceremony before the team's matchup with the Kansas City Royals.

[45] He is one of only five players who have won multiple times (John Smoltz, Jim Thome, Curtis Granderson, and Marcus Semien).

Michael Young on April 25, 2009
Michael Young's number 10 was retired by the Texas Rangers in 2019.
Young with the Dodgers in 2013