Ladies and Gentlemen (and News Team members), I am finally stumped. I have been profiling the rookie hitters all season long in an attempt to get to know them better – to keep them from becoming just random names on the leaderboard. I’ve covered the square face from Germany, the phenom from Japan, and the stoner from California. This week, I was all excited to find out something about the multi-talented outfielder Christopher Brandon Young, who plays for the Arizona Diamondbacks. I found just about four micrograms north of nada on this guy.
As a blogger, I am pretty familiar with the tricks of the searching trade. I tried searching on “Chris B. Young”, and I got several of the basic player cards that all sports and fantasy sites have. Chris B. Young did not go to college. He was drafted in 2001 by the White Sox. He was traded to the Diamondbacks in a trade involving a Hernandez, a Vazquez, and a Vizcaino, just before the 2006 season. He is from Houston and he’s 23 years old.
OK, there are the basics, but I want to know more, so I try Christopher Brandon Young and finally get his Wikipedia page. The page is what Wikipedia delightfully calls “a stub”. The only other info I found there was the identity of his High School – Bellaire High. Apparently this school cranks out state championships and MLB players, including Chuck Knoblauch, Jose Cruz, Jr., and Bubba Crosby. Interestingly enough, Emeka Okafor also played basketball there. And they are so proud of Chris B. that they… fail to list him as a famous alumnus.
Someone owes Chris 14:57 of fame
I looked for puff pieces in the Houston and Phoenix papers. Nothing. I emailed a sports writer from Houston and am awaiting a reply. Why all of the mystery? Is Chris B. Young a pod person? Is he an operative of a hostile nation under deep cover? If so, professional baseball player is the most ballsy cover story I’ve ever heard of.
The only other things I know about CBY are injury facts. One is that he wasn’t rated very highly coming out of college because he had broken his arm during his senior season at Bellaire. The other is that he has skipped a few games recently because of a right groin injury. I found the specificity of the injury to be discomforting, as I’m sure Chris does as well. “Coach, if it were my left groin, I’d be out there, you know that. But I’m right-groinded, and there’s no way I can run the bases with my dominant-side groin at less than 100%”.
So, I plead with you, readers. If you know of a screed, polemic, or revolutionary pamphlet that makes any mention of this player, please let me know about it in the comments. If you are a friend of his, hook me up with an interview, for gods sake – I’m going to blow the lid off of this whole Chris B. Young mystery, and earn my Scooby Snacks.
UPDATE: Thanks to Deadspin, my pitiful cry for information has reached the ears of someone in the know. Writer Matthew Meyers emailed me and passed on a link to his article about CBY (premium content-needs login) as written for Baseball America. In addition, Matt is on a cool road trip right now for CSTV, so I highly recommend following his progress here.
I was listening to the baseball channel on XM Radio (there’s a slim chance it was Fox Sports Radio) earlier today, and they played a clip one of their guys asking Young if it was awkward to have the trainer work on his groin. Young said no, because he was secure in his masculinity. He seemed like a nice enough guy.
That’s all I got.
[...] Meet Chris B. Young? [image]Ladies and Gentlemen (and News Team members), I am finally stumped. I have been profiling the rookie hitters all […] [...]
That’s a great story, though. I always wince when someone is “out with a groin”.
You might want to note that the BA article is for subscribers only (bummer)
He’s on a tv show called “the Show”, its on INHD tv or one of those HD only channels. It is a documentary on a few AZ Diamondback minor leaguers, CBY being one of them.
I went to Lamar High School, rival of Bellaire, at the same time Chris did, my friend and teammate Vince Blue got drafted out of High School like Chris and is probably a friend of his. He could hook you up with an interview or contact him for you. Vince is still in the Detroit Farm System and comes out to Phoenix to workout in the offseason. You should also know that Lamar has a pretty rich history of pro athletes as well. Vince Blue was drafted in the 10th round out of High School in the 2001 draft, Jeff Nieman out of rice won the National Championship as their ace and was drafted fourth overall in the draft the following year. Joe Savery, one of Rice’s top players currently will be a first round pick in the near future. Football we had Gerome Sapp, #1 recruit in the nation, went to Notre Dame, currently a member of the Baltimore Ravens. Rod Babers who went to Texas and started I believe three years and was drafted by the New York Giants in the later rounds. Keith Joseph, went to Texas A and M and now is behind Reggie Bush and Deuce Mcallister on the Saints. Basketball we had Lawrence Roberts, went to Baylor and now is a member of the Memphis Grizzlies. Corey Smith went to Vanderbilt and was drafted I believe, but not sure where.
All of that was just athletes I went to school with in my four years at Lamar… not our full history. If our baseball team had even a decent head coach I would be mentioning my school as a national champion somewhere in there. Eight out of the nine starters on our 2001 team went on to be scholarship athletes at Universities such as Rice, Houston, Texas, Richmond, New Mexico, Baylor, Texas Christian. Oh yeah and the guy who didnt go to college was Vince Blue, drafted right out of high school. Bellaire who? Go skins
[...] M Squared is not a high-profile rookie. He’s the catcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks, where Chris B. Young is stealing all of the rookie spotlight. He’s also only played part of the year, so [...]
If you want to know a little on chris B young let me know I am a personal friend and I know him very well
Frank, I might be getting in touch with you. Chris has been one of my favorite rookies this year, and I’d love it if he’d consent to be interviewed.
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