Players You Forgot the Pittsburgh Pirates Drafted: Part 4

First Baseman Walter Young

Now, you might be wondering, ‘Who is Walter Young?’, and you wouldn’t be wrong to ask that. Young was the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 31st round draft pick back in the 1999 draft. Young was known throughout the minors as a power hitting first baseman. By 2002, Young had hit .333/.390/.563 with 25 long balls at the Pirates A-Ball affiliate.

Though he never appeared in the Majors with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he did with the Baltimore Orioles. After being selected off waivers by the Orioles, Young continued to be a home run hitter, mashing 33 in 2004 with a .539 slugging percentage. Young made his debut at 25-years-old, but only played 14 MLB games, and collected 37 plate appearances where he had 10 hits, including a home run. But after that, he never appeared in a major league game. After that, he played with the San Diego Padres in the minors, and then bounced around with a handful of independent league clubs before retiring in 2009.

So what’s so notable about a power hitting first baseman who never really did much are the Major Leagues? Well, Young is the heaviest player in MLN history. During his playing career, Young came in at a hulking 6’5, 320 pounds. Tragically, Young died at just 35-years-old in 2015 from a heart attack. He had gained over 100 pounds after he retired. According to sources, he was weighing an extremely worrisome 450 pounds at the time of his passing.

Though Young never had the career of the other players we have talked about today, and died at a young age likely because of poor health choices, Young is still an interesting footnote in Pirates’ history that’s worth mentioning.