Young makes the most of his moment
It was a chilly spring night in Des Moines, Iowa, last Friday. The devoted fans in the stands at Principal Park were bundled up to watch their Iowa Cubs, the AAA-minor league farm team for Major League Baseball’s Chicago Cubs, tangle with the Toledo Mud Hens. Prince George’s Jared Young stepped to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning with the bases loaded and one out, his Cubs locked in a 1-1 tie with the Mud Hens.
He swung at the first pitch.
The ball landed in the Des Moines River, 431 feet from home plate and well past the centre field wall. Cubs win 5-1.
Along with the double he hit earlier in the game, it was a nice night’s work for the 26-year-old Young, by far Prince George’s most successful male baseball player ever.
Young’s slow but steady rise to now just one step from the Major Leagues has been the result of hard work, resilience, commitment, and a positive attitude. And ample doses of good and bad luck.
His good luck was devoted parents (his mom Dana is one of our advertising representatives here at the Citizen) who have enthusiastically supported him from the very first time he picked up a bat as a youngster here in Prince George. The encouragement from friends, family and coaches fostered a competitive drive, a passion to get better and a dream to play at the highest level.
His bad luck? Growing up in Prince George. If he had grown up in the United States, he would have played a lot more baseball as a boy, he would have had far more opportunities to develop and he would have been identified for his talent and potential much earlier. But rooting for Young is to root for the underdog, the player who comes out of nowhere, keeps succeeding, despite the odds and the obstacles, and keeps knocking on the door for serious consideration to play at the next level.
The only thing Young can do is keep working and be ready for his big chance to hit another home run that, instead of landing in a river, would leave Wrigley Field and bounce off the pavement on Waveland Avenue in downtown Chicago.