Chris Young has become one of the most successful sports executives in the Dallas in quick fashion.
Quickly into his tenure as the general manager of the Texas Rangers, Young helped guide and build the Rangers to the franchise’s first World Series in 2023. He has since been promoted to president of baseball operations.
Here are 10 things to know about Chris Young.
1. Growing up in Dallas
Young, 45, was born in Dallas on May 25, 1979, and grew up in University Park. He was a highly acclaimed two-sport athlete for the Highland Park Scots, lettering three times in basketball and twice in baseball.
On the court, he tallied over 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 200 blocks during his high school career. He led Highland Park to the Class 4A UIL state championship game as a senior in the fall of 1997, ultimately losing to Houston Waltrip.
On the diamond, Young was equally if not more impressive. He pitched two no-hitters during his senior season in the spring of 1998. Highland Park won the 4A state championship that season by defeating Calallen; Young was on the mound to clinch the game with a successful pickoff move.
Young also threw a no-hitter as a junior in 1997.
2. Dominance at Princeton
Young continued his two-sport prowess at Princeton University, becoming the Ivy League Rookie of the Year in both basketball and baseball in 1998 and 1999, respectively. He was unanimously selected for both honors.
Young is 6-10, and that height helped him become a finesse player in the post.
In 2002, Young could have chosen a very different path as a professional athlete. Fellow Princeton alum and then Sacramento Kings president Geoff Petrie offered Young a two-year guaranteed contract. He was later approached by the Kings, again.
But, he stuck with baseball.
Young was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the third round of the 2000 MLB amateur draft and signed a $1.65 million contract, but only after the club assured him that he could complete his degree. He spent his final years at Princeton bouncing between the classroom, summer leagues and the Pirates’ minor-league affiliates.
3. Building the champions
Young deserves plenty of credit. He was hired as general manager in December 2020 and, alongside Jon Daniels before Daniels was fired in 2022, put the pieces in place for the championship team.
Since his hiring, the Rangers have brought in big-time stars like Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Nathan Eovaldi and plenty more key pieces from the 2023 team.
He even got future Hall of Fame manager Bruce Bochy to come out of retirement for the 2023 season and lead the ballclub.
When the team was in need of reinforcements at the the 2023 trade deadline, Young was aggressive and brought in some big-time starting pitching help in Jordan Montgomery and Max Scherzer. While Daniels still deserves some credit for putting the pieces in place for the World Series team, things greatly accelerated under Young’s leadership.
In an interview discussing the World Series run, Young said as someone who grew up in Dallas, it was gratifying to see the joy the championship brought to the city.
“Just knowing that all of D-FW and our fans across the state, across the country, can be proud of their team,” he said. “That’s what the parade was for, for me. I just loved seeing so many fans there. It warmed my heart to see it. That’s what makes these jobs so wonderful, is that we can impact people’s lives, we can have a positive impact on people and seeing that — I can’t even describe how satisfying that was.”
4. His MLB debut with Rangers was also Princeton history
Pittsburgh eventually bounced Young to the Montreal Expos via a trade. He was then acquired by the Rangers, and made his major league debut on August 24, 2004. Texas defeated the Minnesota Twins, 5-4. Young started the game, pitching 5.2 innings, allowing 4 hits, three walks and three runs while striking out four.
In debuting for the Rangers, Young became the first Princeton player to appear in an MLB game in more than 23 years.
In the 20 years since, though, six Princeton players have appeared in an MLB game.
5. Favorite World Series moment?
He immediately circled the Rangers’ dramatic seven-game ALCS bout with the rival Houston Astros as his favorite moment. Specifically, he loved how the team responded following the heartbreaking Game 5 loss, sending the series back to Houston for Game 6 with the Astros holding a 3-2 series lead.
“When you look at that series, you go down there and the series Adolis [Garcia] had, I’ve never heard somebody get booed that loudly. For him to have the 0-for-4 with four strikeouts and then his last at-bat hit that home run, it was one of the coolest moments I’ve seen.
“The next one that really stands out for me are the two home runs in Game 1. [Corey] Seager’s home run to tie the game and Adolis’ home run to win it. Just special, special moments in, really, baseball history. Not Rangers history, but baseball history and so cool that the last one happened in front of our fans in Arlington.”
6. Speaking of height...
Young, along with Eric Hillman, Randy Johnson, Andrew Brackman and Andrew Sisco, tie as the second tallest players in baseball history.
Young is just one inch shorter than John Rauch, who is believed to be the tallest. Funny enough, they were teammates with the New York Mets in 2012.
7. Comeback kid
From the end of the 2009 season through the start of the 2014 season, Young pitched in just 28 games as a result of injuries.
In 2014, he started 29 games and had a 3.65 ERA, earning himself Comeback Player of the Year honors with the Seattle Mariners. He had a similarly good season in 2015, when he won a World Series with the Kansas City Royals.
8. His All-Star season
Young was selected to the National League All-Star team in 2007 via the All-Star Final Vote, beating out Carlos Zambrano, Roy Oswalt, Brandon Webb and Tom Gorzelanny. Oswalt and Webb would eventually also make the roster as injury replacements.
During arguably the best season of his career, Young posted a 3.12 ERA through 172 total innings and 30 appearances. He led baseball in opponent batting average, hits per nine innings and home ERA.
Young was actually the losing pitcher of that year’s All-Star game and helped make All-Star history in the process.
In the fifth inning, Young issued a lead-off walk to Brian Roberts before Ichiro Suzuki hit a long fly ball to right field. The game was played AT&T Park in San Francisco (now Oracle Park) and the ball took an odd bounce off of some signage. Ken Griffey Jr. could not recover the ball quickly, and Ichiro scored on the only inside-the-park home run in an All-Star game.
Ichiro won the game’s MVP award. The American League won 5-4.
9. His time as a MLB executive
After retiring from competition following the 2017 season, Young remained in professional baseball as a league executive. In May of 2018, Young was chosen to serve as MLB’s vice president of on-field operations, initiatives and strategy.
In 2020, Young was promoted to Senior Vice President and replaced Joe Torre as the MLB’s enforcer of discipline action, such as deciding fines and suspensions.
It should be noted that Young took over this role after MLB commissioner Rob Manfred punished the Houston Astros for their infamous sign-stealing scandal.
So, Rangers fans can’t claim that Young had any part in those outcomes, for better or worse.
10. General manager No. 9
Young was the ninth general manager in franchise history, or, the ninth GM the Rangers have had since the team moved from Washington D.C.
He is preceded by Joe Burke, Dan O’Brien, Eddie Robinson, Joe Klein, Tom Grieve, Doug Melvin, John Hart and Jon Daniels.
Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
