MLBBy Michael Grant on

The major-league baseball season is in full swing. We thought this would be a good opportunity to catch up with MLB Network analyst Chris Young. He grew up wanting to be a doctor but wound up with a 13-year playing career with six teams and was an All-Star in 2010 for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Young will be a part of the MLB Tonight: Clubhouse Edition telecast of the Seattle Mariners vs. Boston Red Sox game on Wednesday night. Awful Announcing spoke to Young, 39, about the sport, his broadcasting career, and his ambitions.

Awful Announcing: What has been the biggest surprise so far?

Chris Young: “I would probably say the Astros. They’re coming in as World Series champs. They are not playing terribly, sitting in second place. It’s a big hit not to have José Altuve, but Mauricio Dubón has stepped in nicely. I thought the José Abreu signing was amazing. But to see his power numbers as low as they’ve been and him grinding at the plate. I’m surprised at how the Astros have been playing. They’re still pitching well but offensively, they have a lot more young guys in the lineup than I expected to see.”

What do you think of the pitch clock?

“I love the changes. I think the pace of play has been great. I don’t feel like the offenses have struggled with the adjustment. I didn’t know how that transition would be with people feeling more rushed in the box. It seems like the players who I felt would struggle with the changes have been able to adjust a lot quicker. The game seems to be more exciting because you don’t have the dead time in between pitches happening anymore.”

How should the Tampa Bay Rays feel? As well as they’ve played, someone could catch them in the AL East.

“Yeah, they come out with the hottest start I’ve seen. I assume that the Blue Jays and the Yankees would be the ones coming out of the gate hard, especially the Blue Jays, with their offense. The Rays, they’re just a scrappy team. They’ve learned how to get the best out of their players. I can’t say I’m overly surprised they’re in first place. They’re a complete team. They run the bases well. They hit for average and power, and pitch well. I think the Rays and Blue Jays will end up being the two teams going head-to-head. That AL East has always been a juggernaut.”

Who is the best player in baseball today?

“It’s probably impossible for me to get off the Shohei Ohtani train. He does so many things well. And even when you feel like he’s having a down year offensively, he’s still hitting (.287). Even when you feel like he has a bad outing on the mound, he is still in the top five as far as batting average allowed against him. Even when he is not at his best, he is still arguably better than anybody else in the game. He just naturally can go out there and dominate the game from either side of the ball any day.”

What do you like about working for the MLB Network?

“It has been a great experience for me and is something that I wanted to be a part of. In my first few years with the network, I’ve worked All-Star games. I’ve worked red carpet shows. I did the post-game for Game 6 of the World Series when the Astros won it all. It has been a great experience being able to talk to managers and players in those big moments.”

Would you ever consider being a manager?

“I would be interested in both sides of the game, whether it would be on the field as a manager or in the front office. The front office has always been intriguing to me. I would love to be one of the guys behind the scenes in the front office, understanding the things that they’re looking for, the numbers that they’re looking at when they’re analyzing players and trying to build a winning ballclub.”

What do you think of the number of Blacks in baseball?

“I think the number is low, but I think there have been some moves made to try to improve that number. I’m part of an organization called the Players Alliance that works to get more black players in the game. And that’s not just playing the game. So many jobs are available within baseball that have nothing to do with playing the game. You’re talking about trainers, front office, team ownership. You would love to see more representation on the playing side. I think MLB has been doing a really good job of having programs, the Urban Youth Academy, the different pipeline programs that they put in place to get more players.”

You got your business administration degree from Arizona State University in January 2022. Why was that important?

“Baseball was not on the radar until my senior year of high school. I actually wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon.  When I got drafted out of high school, I gave (my parents) my word that one day I would go back and get my degree.”

Why did you want to be a doctor?

“When I was I was a child, I wanted to be an obstetrician. Full transparency, it was because I was a big fan of The Cosby Show as a kid. It wasn’t until I was probably in seventh or eighth grade that I realized there were a lot more duties as an obstetrician and those were things that I had no interest in. So I changed that. At the time, I thought working in sports would be a cool job. Just naturally being an athlete and seeing a lot of different injuries, I wanted to be the person to fix those injuries. So, orthopedic surgeon is what I came up with.”

Are your parents disappointed?

“(Laughs) Yeah, my mom still says it’s not too late if you still want to do that. I told her that that ship has sailed.”

About Michael Grant

Born in Jamaica. Grew up in New York City. Lives in Louisville, Ky. Sports writer. Not related to Ulysses S. Grant, Anthony Grant, Amy Grant or Hugh Grant.

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