Eric Young Jr: Like Father, Like Son
I have to start this post off by admitting that I am un-apologetically one of the biggest Eric Young Jr. fans around, who has been lobbying for his presence amongst the Rockies’ best prospects for the past two seasons. The second baseman finally received his big-league shot and played in his first MLB game last night against the Los Angeles Dodgers in a key late season match-up. Young Jr. went 1-for-4 with a single. He was also caught attempting to steal a base.
The switch-hitter has purple and grey in his veins. Young Jr.’s dad, Eric Young Sr., was the Rockies’ everyday second baseman during the club’s inaugural season in 1993 (Junior was 8) and he spent five seasons with the organization. Young Jr. was appropriately selected by the Rockies in the 30th round of the 2003 draft out of a New Jersey community college.
Despite his modest draft selection (He was later signed in 2004 as a draft-and-follow), Young Jr. hit well in professional baseball right away. After batting .264 in his debut season, which included only 87 at-bats, Young Jr.’s average never dipped below .290 again in five seasons. He also showed a respectable approach at the plate with solid walk and strikeout rates. Although he possesses little power, Young Jr. – like his dad – builds his game around his speed. With a career high 87 steals in 2006, the youngster has 303 steals in his six-year minor-league career.
This season in triple-A, Young Jr. stole 58 bases in 72 attempts, while also posting an offensive line of .299/.387/.430 with 10 triples in 472 at-bats. Defensively, Young Jr. is considered an average-at-best second baseman and he has been seeing increased time in the outfield – which is where he made his MLB debut. With his pre-September promotion to Colorado, he’ll be eligible for the playoffs, where his base running could be extremely valuable as a late-game pinch runner.
Looking ahead to 2010, Young Jr. has a crowded second base and outfield picture to contend with. However, he possesses a skill that few Rockies do: Speed. If the organization is smart, it will find a way to make room for the speedster, who could combine with fellow rookie Dexter Fowler (26 steals) to provide a real spark at the top of the order.
Marc Hulet has been writing at FanGraphs since 2008. His work focuses on prospects and fantasy. Follow him on Twitter @marchulet.
Just grabbed him in the Batter’s Box league for the fantasy playoffs. Please steal!
I was about to ask if Marge Schott had a kid, too, then realized I was mixing Eric Young with Eric Davis.
Love this guy. Never got any real love from the prospect gurus (BA/BP/etc.) despite some pretty remarkable SB numbers in the minors. I realize it’s MUCH easier to steal down in Single-A, but I found it curious that someone who had 160 combined steals over two seasons wasn’t given more love than being coined as a marginal prospect/utility man at best.
Going to be very exciting player to watch next year I think and will love to see how quickly he becomes a serious fan favorite in Denver.
This is quite a bit off topic as it only relates to a minor point of the post, but I have a question about playoff roster eligibility. To paraphrase, rule 40a states that if a player is placed on the DL, then another player of the same position but not playoff eligible may be added to the playoff roster. My question is: does that player have to be on the 40 man roster or can it be anyone from within the organization?
Couple things,
1) Why does your site now have 2 Eric Young Jr. pages?
http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=pa104505&position=2B
&
http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=7158&position=OF
2) EY Jr. is not EY Sr.
Sr. basically came out of the minors instantly posting a 11 BB% and 8 K% (1.54 BB/K). Jr, in AAA against inferior pitchers, is looking at 10.6 BB% and 16.7 K% (.071 BB/K).
Jr. also hasn’t made that great of contract over his minor league career
52.3% GB, 13.5% LD, 33.6% FB – 07 A+
58.7% GB, 17.8% LD, 23.2% FB – 08 AA
60.9% GB, 15.2% LD, 22.9% FB – 09 AAA
That steadily increasing GB rate is extreme, and the subsequent declining FB rate and low-side LD% does not project that well. It looks as though he is one who will live and die by the BAbip. The LD and FB ratios are lower then Reggie Willits, with a similar K rate but much lower BB% – can you imagine Willits with less power and fewer walks?
Lastly, he has that alarming Colorado split already
.342/.436/.482/.918, .387 BAbip, 56%/15%/28% G/L/F – Colorado Springs, CO
.267/.351/.397/.748, .314 BAbip, 65%/16%/19% G/L/F – everywhere else
Saying “Young Jr.” over and over is a bit awkward. How about “Young the Younger?”
Of course, that lends itself to shortening out the redundancy:
The father is Eric Young and the son is Eric Younger.
After his redonkulous Arizona Fall League performance, I was sure he’d find his way to the team earlier than late August.