Players You Probably Didn’t Know the Pittsburgh Pirates Drafted

Pitcher Chris Young

In the same draft as Bautista, the Pittsburgh Pirates drafted right handed pitcher Chris Young. Selected in the 3rd round out of Princeton University, the lanky starter never appeared in a Major League game for the Bucs. Instead, he was traded to the Montreal Expos in the 2002-2003 off-season with minor leaguer Jon Searles for Matt Herges.

The Expos also would never get to see Young pitch in the majors for them as he was sent to the Texas Rangers with Josh McKinley for Justin Echols and Einar Diaz. Young finally made it to the Majors in 2004, and was given a rotation job in 2005 where he posted a 4.26 ERA, 3.80 FIP, and a 1.26 WHIP in 164.2 innings. But Young was traded yet again. This time in a very lopsided trade that got the Padres not just Young, but also slugging first baseman Adrian Gonzalez.

In his first season in San Diego, Young pitched to the tune of a 3.46 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP in 179.1 innings, but saw his FIP increase to 4.60. This was because of a spike in home runs. On average, he gave up 1.4 HR/9 in 2006 compared to just 1.0 in 2005. However, he did lead the league in hits/9 at 6.7.

Young had his best season in 2007 when he threw 173 innings of 3.12 ERA, 3.43 FIP, and 1.09 WHIP. Chris had cut down his home run rate by nearly triple, down to just 0.5 per 9, and increased his strikeout rate to 8.7 per 9, both being career bests. For the second straight year in a row, he led the league in hits/9 at 6.1.

After 2007, Young did not play all that much, mainly due to injuries. He tossed just 337 innings across 60 games from 2008 to 2012, and missed all of 2013. However, he did come back during the 2014 season, but struggled.

Despite his 3.65 ERA and 1.23 WHIP with the Seattle Mariners, Young had a 5.02 FIP, 6.95 DRA(!), 5.23 SIERA, and gave up 26 home runs in 165 innings of work. He posted a K/BB ratio of just 1.8, which was his lowest mark in at least 100 innings.

The following season, the World Series Champion Kansas City Royals used Young as a swingman, as he started 18 of his 34 games played. He posted better results with a 3.05 ERA, 4.52 FIP, and 5.15 SIERA, but still far from someone you would want to rely on. However, he was solid in the team’s post season run for the Wold Series trophy. His over performance finally caught up to him in his final two MLB seasons when his ERA and FIP skyrocketed to 6.52 in both 2016 and 2017. However, his DRA and xFIP remained very similar to his 2014-2015 levels.