Young is the 222nd former Northwoods League player to debut in MLB
Rochester, Minn. – Former Lakeshore Chinook Alex Young, made his Major League debut for the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday, June 27, 2019. Young is the 222nd former Northwoods League player to reach the Major League level.
Young, who played collegiately at Texas Christian University, played for the Lakeshore Chinooks in 2013. He was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2nd round of the 2015 MLB draft.
Young pitched in four games for the Chinooks in 2013 and was 0-0 with a 2.32 ERA. He had 21 strikeouts in 19.1 innings and walked nine.
Young began his minor league career in 2015 with the Diamondbacks Rookie-level team in the Arizona League. After one game he moved on to the Hillsboro Hops of the Short-Season A Northwest League. Between the two clubs he appeared in seven games and was 0-0 with a 1.29 ERA. He struck out six batters in 7.0 innings pitched and walked one.
In 2016 Young began the year with the Kane County Cougars of the Lo-A Midwest League. After nine games in Kane County, he was promoted to the Visalia Rawhide of the Hi-A California League. For the season he was a combined 5-8 with a 3.56 ERA. He struck out 93 batters in 118.2 innings pitched and walked 37.
Young moved up to the Jackson Generals of the AA Southern League for the 2017 season. He appeared in 27 games with 24 of those being starts. He was 9-9 with a 3.68 ERA and struck out 103 batters in 137 innings pitched and had a 1.336 WHIP.
For the 2018 season, Young began the year in Jackson and then was promoted after nine games to the Reno Aces of the AAA Pacific Coast League. He would pitch in 29 games that season and compiled a 10-5 record. He struck out a career-high 109 batters in 130.2 innings pitched and had a 5.17 ERA.
Prior to being called up by the Diamondbacks, Young had appeared in 20 games with Reno and had a record of 4-3 with a 6.09 ERA. He had 64 strikeouts in 54.2 innings pitched and had walked 26.
In his Major League debut, Young started the game and was the winning pitcher as the Diamondbacks defeated the San Francisco Giants by a final score of 5-1. Young pitched five innings, allowing one run on three hits with five strikeouts.
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The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Currently, in its’ 26th season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, over 200 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG), World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS) and MLB All-Stars Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (MIA). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com or download the Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play.