Black Sox Beat Writer
Chicago Sports Online
The Chicago Black Sox were so enamored of the extreme groundball pitcher they nabbed late in the first round of this year's amateur draft, they tried to repeat the trick in Round 2.
Mark Young
May Byrd
Scouts don’t find his talent quite as eye-popping as Mal Byrd, their Round 1 pick who also has good looking stuff and pitch movement potential, but they’re still impressed.
Like Byrd, Young pitched mostly in a starting role in high school, notching a 1.66 ERA in 43.1 innings over 9 starts. He averaged 12.7 strikeouts per 9 innings, and 3.7 walks.
“Yeah, we’d like those walk numbers to come down, but everything else points to another strong bullpen prospect for us,” said Frank H. Pabodie, director of scouting for the Sox. “We think these two guys willl give us another wave of lockdown relievers to move through our system.”
Indeed, scouts are more impressed by Young’s potential coming out of the bullpen than they are by the prospects of him pitching in the rotation. As a starter, they grade his overall potential at 20/40, but boost that to 20/60 as a relief prospect.
Young’s splitter currently rates at 5/9 and his fastball at 5/8, with a “hit me” (1/2) changeup as a third pitch that coaches wish he’d never throw.
“His big stuff gets people’s attention, and he combines that with average control” and above average pitch movement,” the most recent scouting report says. “Young will likely be suited for setup or long relief, and maybe pick up a few save opportunities, too.”
Which would suit the Chicago coaching staff just fine.
“We see Byrd, really, as our closer of the future – but you need more than that to have a really top-notch bullpen, and we see Mark very much in the mix,” said Sox pitching coach David Brown. “I look forward to the day when I can work with him here in Chicago.”
Young is looking forward to that, too.
“Starting, relieving, closing – hey it’s all the same to me,” Young said. “You throw the ball where their bat ain’t and get ‘em talking to themselves. It’s not that complicated a game, really.”
Word is that Young’s agent can be a little difficult to deal with, but the team did put aside a generous draft budget and has little doubt it can bring their top draft picks aboard.
“Signing talent has always been a priority with Black Sox organization, and that will not change this year,” said General Manager Benny Vitale. “We have no doubts that Mr. Young will be joining our organization in the very near future.”