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Dmitri Young

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Dmitri Young
Washington Nationals – No. 21
First Base
Bats: Both
Throws: Right
debut
August 29, 1996, for the St. Louis Cardinals
Career statistics
(through July 1, 2007)
Batting Average.292
Home Runs161
Runs Batted In636
Stats at Baseball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Teams

Dmitri Dell Young (b. October 11 1973, Vicksburg, Mississippi) is a Major League Baseball player. He is the starting first baseman of the Washington Nationals, filling in for the injured Nick Johnson. His nickname is "Da Meat Hook."

High school career

Dmitri Young attended Rio Mesa High School in Oxnard, California. As a senior, he batted .425 with 11 home runs, 31 runs batted in, 37 runs, and 8 doubles, and won USA Today High School All-American honors.

Major league career

Young's first full season in the majors was with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1997, in which he hit .258. After the season, he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for Jeff Brantley. Eight days later, he was selected by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the expansion draft, then traded back to the Reds for Mike Kelly. He had four solid years with the Reds, hitting over .300 in each year (finishing second in doubles in 1998, and hitting 21 home runs in 2001). During these years, he mostly played the outfield, but also played a substantial amount at first base.

After the 2001 season, he was traded by the Reds to the Detroit Tigers for Luis Pineda and Juan Encarnacion. In 2003 he hit .297, with 29 home runs, and 7 triples (10th in the league). He was the Tigers' lone representative at the 2003 MLB All-Star Game, although he didn't make an appearance on the field or in the batter's box.

On April 4 2005, Young joined George Bell and Tuffy Rhodes as the only players to hit three home runs on Opening Day in Detroit's 11-2 win over the Kansas City Royals. The three-homer game took place in statistically one of the more difficult home-run stadiums, Comerica Park. He was also known as "D'MeatHook" and "The Big D" to Tigers fans.

2006 -- troubles off the field

In 2006, "Young went through a divorce, was treated for substance abuse and depression, and pleaded guilty to assaulting his girlfriend by choking, bruising and scratching her and tearing out clumps of her hair."[1]

On May 17 2006, the Detroit Free Press reported that Young faces a misdemeanor domestic violence charge, stemming from a heated argument with a woman claiming to be his girlfriend.[2] Young subsequently spent 30 days in the rehabilitation facility, Promises Malibu, and three weeks working out with minor league teams. On June 13 2006, Young failed to appear for a pretrial hearing on this matter and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest.[3]. Ten days later be pleaded no contest to the domestic violence charges.

On June 30 2006, Young revealed that he has been battling alcoholism[4], which limited his physical fitness and kept him from appearing in all but a small fraction of Tigers games during the season. He made a statement to the press in which he asserted that he has been making progress overcoming it with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous, whose logo has been tattooed on his wrist as a gesture of thanks. He returned to action on July 21, 2006 versus the Oakland Athletics, starting at designated hitter and ending the game with 2 hits and 2 RBI in the Tigers 7-4 win. Before the game started, FSN Detroit aired a video of Young apologizing to the fans and saying how he will continue to struggle against alcohol and drugs for the rest of his life.

On September 6, 2006, with less than a month to go in their American League Championship season, the Tigers gave Young his unconditional release in a move that surprised both teammates and fans alike.

The day after Thanksgiving, "an ambulance took him to a hospital, where he endured a three-day stay in the intensive care unit as his doctors diagnosed diabetes."[1]

2007

In late 2006 the Washington Nationals lost their first baseman Nick Johnson for nearly a year due to a broken leg. In the following spring, the Nationals invited a number of first baseman to camp, including Young, who won the starting role. In his first game with the Nationals, opening day, he hit 2 doubles. He went on to have a sizzling first half, reaching the All Star break batting .340, third in the league, and he was selected to his second All-Star game -- the Nationals only representative.

Young received his Detroit Tigers 2006 American League Championship ring when the Tigers played the Nationals in an interleague series at RFK Stadium in June of 2007.

On July 4th, Young hit a Grand Slam against the visiting Chicago Cubs. It was his sixth career Grand Slam.

Trivia

Dmitri's younger brother Delmon Young, a former number one draft pick, currently plays for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Young appeared at World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)'s Survivor Series 2005 in an interview segment with Edge and Lita. Edge made fun of the Detroit Tigers, saying that they suck, while Young cracked jokes at Edge concerning his failures on capturing a World Title. The irony is that Edge would later win the WWE Championship twice within the next year and the Tigers would go on to appear in the 2006 World Series.

Dmitri and Delmon's father, Larry Young, 55, was a share-cropper's son from Mississippi who worked his way through school and became one of the Navy's first African American F-14 fighter pilots. He is currently a pilot for Delta Airlines.

Dmitri and younger brother Delmon Young both made their Major League debut on August 29, ten years apart. Dmitri made his first appearance in 1996, and Delmon made his in 2006.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Joe Lapointe (June 28, 2007). "Young Hopes to Show Others How to Learn From Mistakes". New York Times.
  2. ^ http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060517&content_id=1459198&vkey=news_det&fext=.jsp&c_id=det
  3. ^ http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-tigers-young&prov=ap&type=lgns
  4. ^ http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060630/SPORTS08/606300414/1129/SPORTS0104
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