Chris Young

Chris Young is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his major league debut on August 24, 2004, with the Texas Rangers and has also played for the San Diego Padres, New York Mets and Seattle Mariners. He had previously excelled in basketball and baseball at Highland Park High School in University Park, Texas and at 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. 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, which makes him, along with former pitchers Eric Hillman and Randy Johnson and current pitchers Andrew Sisco and Andrew Brackman, the second tallest player in baseball history, next to relief pitcher Jon Rauch. He was elected to the 2007 MLB All-Star Game as a first-time All-Star via the All-Star Final Vote.