Christopher Ryan Young (born May 25, 1979) is an American former professional baseball pitcher and current president of baseball operations of the Texas Rangers, serving in the team's front office since 2020. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher from to for the Texas Rangers, San Diego Padres, New York Mets, Seattle Mariners and the Kansas City Royals. Young was a 2007 National League (NL) All-Star player as a member of the Padres, and was a member of the 2015 World Series winning Kansas City Royals team. After his playing career, he worked for the Major League Baseball front office before becoming the general manager of the Rangers in 2020, and promoted to his current position in November 2024.
At the age of 25, Young made his MLB debut on August 24, 2004 with the Rangers. He had previously excelled in basketball and baseball at Highland Park High School in University Park, Texas, and Princeton University.
Young helped Highland Park reach the Class 4A Region II basketball final in 1997 and the Class 4A Texas state basketball final in 1998. He tossed a no-hitter in 1997 while compiling a 6–0 record, helping Highland Park reach the Class 4A Texas state baseball final. During his senior year, he was District Most Valuable Player in basketball, and led his baseball team to the state championship, while pitching in two no-hitters. That year, he was a first-team All-State selection in basketball and baseball. After a high school career as an athlete and scholar, Young excelled in both baseball and basketball for Princeton University and became the Ivy League's first male two-sport Rookie of the Year.
Selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the third round of the June 2000 draft, he had brief professional experiences in the Pirates, Montreal Expos, and Texas Rangers minor league systems before debuting with the Rangers in August 2004. Young's professional baseball career took off in the 2006 season, when he was the major league leader in opponent batting average, hits per nine innings and road earned run average (ERA) and was named the National League Pitcher of the Month for June. Additionally, he extended his streak of consecutive undefeated games started as a visiting pitcher to 24, and secured the only Padres win in the team's 3–1 series loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2006 National League Division Series. In 2007, he defended his opponent batting average and hits per nine innings titles, but instead of winning the road ERA title he won the home ERA title.
He is , which makes him, along with former pitchers Eric Hillman, Randy Johnson, Andrew Brackman and Andrew Sisco, the second tallest player in baseball history, next to relief pitcher Jon Rauch (who is and Young's teammate on the 2012 New York Mets) and Sean Hjelle. He was elected to the 2007 MLB All-Star Game as a first-time All-Star via the All-Star Final Vote.
Early life Christopher Ryan Young was born on May 25, 1979, in Midland, Texas. Young attended Highland Park High School in University Park, Texas, where he played basketball and baseball. He lettered three times in basketball, in a career in which he scored over 1,000 points, and accumulated 500 rebounds and 200 blocks. He was a two-year letterman in baseball, compiling a 14–3 record with 180 strikeouts. In basketball, he averaged 16 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots a game, and in baseball he had an 8–3 record with a 1.70 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 80 innings pitched.
As a sophomore in the fall of 1995, he was moved up to the varsity basketball team from the junior varsity due to injuries. As a junior, his presence was significant enough that one opposing team practiced with a coach holding a broom in the air to simulate playing against him. He helped his team reach the Class 4A-state Region II final. As a junior in baseball, Young threw a no-hitter against McKinney High School in Spring 1997. However, he missed a large part of the season after getting off to a 6–0 start because of a stress fracture in his foot. Nonetheless, he was already considered a top professional prospect, and he was named as one of seven Highland Park players on the all-district team. By the summer of 1997, he was able to play for the Dallas Mustangs who were the defending national champions in the Connie Mack World Series, and he earned the win in the fifth place game of the World Series.
By January of Young's senior season, he had led his basketball team to a district-leading 23–1 (4–0 in district) record and first place in both The Dallas Morning News''' Class 4A area poll and the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches' state poll. Young developed a reputation as a finesse post player, and that season he led his team to the UIL State Tournament championship game. Highland Park lost to Houston's Waltrip High School and Young was credited with a tournament-high 18 rebounds by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, although The Dallas Morning News only credited him with 17 points and 14 rebounds. Young finished his senior season as a Texas Association of Basketball Coaches' first-team All-State selection and the District 9-4A Most Valuable Player. He was later chosen to play in the mid-summer Texas High School Coaches Association's Southwestern All-Star basketball game at the Hofheinz Pavilion.
Young announced he planned to attend Princeton in May 1998. He chose Princeton over Boston College, University of Oklahoma, University of Pennsylvania, University of Texas, Vanderbilt University, and Yale University. Young's decision was based on Princeton's rising national profile in basketball and the opportunity to work with baseball coach Scott Bradley, who had played catcher for the Seattle Mariners while 6–10 pitcher Randy Johnson was with the team.
On May 9, 1998, Young was involved in a combined no-hitter when he pitched into the fifth inning against Moisés E. Molina High School and was relieved by Mike Matthews. Highland Park won this game, which was the clinching Region II best-of-3 bi-district series game, by the 10-run rule. Young displayed home run power as a senior, and in some games, he played designated hitter. Later that month, Young pitched another no-hitter in another 10-run rule victory, this time against Carthage High School. Young was the starting pitcher at UFCU Disch-Falk Field during the Texas state 4A championship game victory against Calallen High School, and he clinched the game with a successful pickoff move. He was selected to the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association 1998 All-State baseball team as well as The Texas Sports Writers Association third-team Class 4A all-state baseball.
College career In his freshman season at Princeton University, Young was the first male athlete to be named Ivy League Rookie of the Year in two sports—basketball and baseball—and was a unanimous selection for both awards. In addition, Young was named second-team All-Ivy in basketball and was basketball Rookie of the Week each of the final six weeks and seven weeks overall. His season was capped with Ivy League Player of the Year and freshman All-America honors from Basketball Weekly. Statistically, Young set Princeton Tigers men's basketball freshman records for points (387) and rebounds (160) by averaging 12.9 points and 5.3 rebounds a game with the 1998–99 Tigers. He also had 39 points, 19 rebounds, and 15 assists in three games at the Rainbow Classic basketball tournament, hosted by the University of Hawaii. He posted a season-high 24 points in a National Invitation Tournament win against the NC State Wolfpack. In baseball, Young led Princeton and the Ivy League with a 2.38 ERA. During this performance he allowed only one home run over the course of 150 batters faced, and was twice named Ivy League Rookie of the Week.
Young concluded his college basketball career by starting every game with the 1999–2000 team. Among his accomplishments that season were 22 double-digit scoring games, breaking his own single-season school record for blocked shots with 87, and leading the team with 13.8 points per game, 6.3 rebounds per game, 87 blocked shots and 40 steals. He was also second on the team with 105 assists. Young had the highest rebounding average of any Princeton player since 1978 and was also the 13th player in school history to record 100 assists in a season. For his college basketball career, Young accumulated 801 points, 350 rebounds, and 142 blocks. His best game performances included a 20-point game on the road against the 11th-ranked Kansas Jayhawks, a career-high 30 points against Harvard, and a school record of nine blocked shots against the Ohio Bobcats.
During his sophomore baseball season in 2000, Young was the Ivy League's leading pitcher with a 1.82 ERA overall and a 1.05 figure in conference games. He compiled a perfect record of 5–0 in eight appearances, with 52 strikeouts in innings. Young was a unanimous first-team All-Ivy League baseball selection, and he led the Tigers to their first Ivy League title since 1996. Young pitched a complete game and struck out seven batters in the 5–2 win in the championship series opener against Dartmouth. In 2000, he played collegiate summer baseball for the Chatham A's of the Cape Cod Baseball League.
Young was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the third round of the 2000 MLB draft and signed a $1.65 million contract with Pittsburgh on September 6 after holding out until he gained assurances that he would be able to complete his collegiate education. He completed his degree at Princeton in politics in June 2002, during his stint in Minor League Baseball. He played in the class A minor leagues after his junior year. Young then completed his senior thesis, entitled "The Impact of Jackie Robinson and the Integration of Baseball on Racial Stereotypes in America: A Quantitative Content Analysis of Stories about Race in the New York Times" while commuting on minor league buses as a player for the Hickory Crawdads. Young was also offered a two-year guaranteed contract to play basketball for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association in 2002 by fellow Princeton alum and Kings president Geoff Petrie.
Professional career Draft and minor leagues
Young was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the third round of the 2000 MLB draft. He was signed to a deal on September 6. After a few years of minor league service, he was traded to the Montreal Expos' organization. The Expos traded him to the Texas Rangers, for whom he eventually made his major league debut. After less than two seasons with the Rangers, he was traded to the San Diego Padres.
In 2001, Young went 5–3 with a 4.12 ERA in 12 starts for the Hickory Crawdads in the Class-A South Atlantic League, including two complete games. In 2002, Young helped the Crawdads to the league title with an 11–9 record and 3.11 ERA in 26 starts. Young earned decisions in fifteen straight starts from April 16 and July 4. He allowed more than three earned runs in just two of 26 starts. Opposing batters batted .234. He was traded to the Montreal Expos with Jon Searles for pitcher Matt Herges after the season. Young began the 2003 season on the disabled list before joining the Brevard County Manatees of the Florida State League towards the end of April. He posted a 5–2 record with a 1.62 ERA, and held opposing batters to a .150 batting average in eight starts. His season was highlighted by an eight-inning, one-hit, no-walk, eight-strikeout performance against the Fort Myers Miracle on May 11. This capped a 3–0, 0.47 ERA start to the season.