Chris Young was effective for the Mets last year, but was limited to 4 starts before his shoulder problems began.
Over the next week, several Mets are expected to return from injury and rejoin the 25 man roster. One of these injured players is Chris Young. Young, all 82 inches of him, is expected to enter the Mets rotation upon return. Whether or not Young will help the Mets is a tough question.
Over his career, Young has been a valuable pitcher when healthy, posting a career 3.74 ERA. The problem is, he has not been healthy much at all.
Young is just coming off six scoreless innings in a rehab start for AAA Buffalo. His fastball topped out at 84, which is right around the velocity he had with the Mets in his brief time last season. Young has always been a control guy, so his velocity is not a huge concern. Plus, with Young’s height, the ball look like it is coming from the sky out of his hand.
Young has never thrown over 200 innings in a single season, so he is not considered a workhorse whatsoever. This is one of the concerns I have for him. Depending on the pitch count the Mets set for him, Young may not be able to go deep into games. Last rehab start Young threw 87 pitches.
Another concern I have is that 84 mph fastball. While Young has been effective in the 80s before with his fastball, his margin for error will not be very big.
Young has always been a fly ball pitcher, which bodes well for his home starts despite the moved in fences. Although, I expect Young’s first start with the team will be in Washington this week.
Whether or not Young is going to put up spectacular numbers with the Mets is one thing, but he is certainly an upgrade over Miguel Batista or Jeremy Hefner.
Even if Young is only part of his old self, I think he will be able to have some success in the back end of the Mets rotation. With Santana and Dickey pitching the way they are, Young is just going to have to give the Mets a chance to win when he pitches.
As always I’d like to hear your take on Chris Young. Do you think he will have success this season with the Mets? Leave a comment or send me a tweet @tysim19.
