Eric Young Sr.
Eric Young Sr. remembers April 9, 1993, like it was yesterday. He always will.
In the first home plate appearance in Rockies history, Young took Expos starter Kent Bottenfield deep to leftcenter field in front of a record crowd of 80,227 at Mile High Stadium as Colorado went on to win its inaugural home opener 11-4.
“I had chills going through my body like crazy as I was circling the bases,” Young said. “But that home run was not just a moment that was for me — it was for the Colorado region and all the people who were excited about baseball finally being in the state.”
Fast forward more than 25 years later, and Young has made a second career out of coaching following 15 seasons in the big leagues. After originally breaking through with the Dodgers in 1992, the second baseman played for Colorado from 1993-97, and seven teams total, before playing his final season in 2006.
Young then spent a season as a rover instructor for the Astros in 2010, was the first-base coach in Arizona in 2011 and 2012 and served in the same role for the Rockies from 2014-16. He’s now in his first season as the first-base coach for the Braves.
“It’s been a very rejuvenating year thus far, especially working with a younger ballclub and just being able to come and give my expertise, knowledge and experience to a lot of young guys who haven’t been through a whole year of a big-league season,” Young said. “The players know I’m passionate, and they’ve been responding to it.”
And even as his career moved him on to Atlanta, Young still keeps eyes toward Colorado — and especially the play of the man who now holds down his former position.
“DJ Lemahieu is the ultimate person and professional — he’s a tremendous student of the game, and now his talent has taken him to another level over the last three, four years,” Young said. “He’s one of the prime second basemen in the league.”
How much longer Lemahieu will be flashing leather in purple pinstripes is another question altogether, however, and Young knows as much considering the 30-year-old’s contract is expiring at the end of this season.
“It’s a situation where you may have some younger guys (coming up) — every guy goes through that in a career — and a team is willing to go a different route with a younger player,” Young said. “DJ will have no problem landing with a team, or if he’s traded this year, because I’m sure there’s interest for him. He’s an all-star, a batting league champ — you just don’t do those things by mistake.”
Kyle Newman: 303-954-1773 knewman@denverpost.com or @Kylenewmandp