In sports, there is always one player on your favorite team that you can't stand to watch. For example, a couple of seasons ago, I attended a scrimmage between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Minnesota Vikings on the University of Wisconsin-River Falls campus and I talked to a fellow fan who told me his least favorite Viking.
"For years, my kids thought that Dontarrious Thomas's name was actually bitch. They actually asked me why bitch wasn't on the back of his jersey. It was at that moment I knew I had to tone down my language during Viking games."
When it came to the Minnesota Twins, many Twins fans thought that player was Delmon Young. My own mother was part of that entourage.
"I can't stand that Delmon Young (rolling eyes). It seems like every time he comes up he doesn't care and just pounds the ball into the ground."
Young's first couple of seasons in Minnesota weren't supposed to be this way. At the end of the 2007 season, the Twins needed to add offense to their lineup and had multiple players that manager Ron Gardenhire simply didn't like. So new general manager Bill Smith dangled those players as trade bait and rumors started flying. Finally, on a November afternoon, the trigger was pulled. The Twins had traded Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett, and a prospect for Delmon Young, Brendan Harris, and a prospect.
Young was the #1 pick in the 2003 MLB Draft and was supposed to be the crown jewel for the Tampa Bay DEVIL Rays.
Let's take a sidenote here. Think of the picks that the Devil Rays had before they became the Rays.
Tampa Bay Devil Rays Picks (1998-2007)
1999: OF Josh Hamilton (1st Overall)
2000: OF Rocco Baldelli (5th Overall)
2001: P Dewon Brazelton (3rd Overall; Behind Joe Mauer, Mark Prior; Ahead of Mark Teixeira and Gavin Floyd.
2002: SS B.J. Upton (2nd Overall)
2003: OF Delmon Young (1st Overall)
2004: P Jeff Niemann (4th Overall)
2005: P Wade Townsend (8th Overall)
2006: 3B Evan Longoria (3rd Overall)
2007: P David Price (1st Overall)
OK, so we know that some of these picks didn't turn out for obvious reasons, but what if the Rays had kept all this talent together. Could you imagine an outfield with Josh Hamilton, Delmon Young and a HEALTHY Rocco Baldelli? Ok, I'm done...
Young became more famous for an off the field action than his on the field play however. Playing for the Rays' minor league AAA affiliate, the Durham Bulls, Young became enraged at an umpire's call and whipped the bat at the umpire. This followed him wherever he went and when he was traded to Minnesota, he saw it as a new beginning.
Young was also coming off his best season at the plate as he hit .288 with 13 HR and 93 RBI. There was nowhere but up for Delmon, or so the Twins thought.
Then came the slow start to 2008, and suddenly Delmon Young was looking a lot like Rondell White without the steroids and injury history. Young finished the season strong, but then would start the 2009 season on the bench behind Carlos Gomez, who had a solid first season with the Twins.
During that season, there were many issues that lead to his decline. First, Delmon wasn't playing everyday. They are professionals, but It's very difficult to get into a rhythm when you're getting shut down for a week at a time. Second, Delmon wound up with a nasty ankle injury that was in the back of the batters box. Therefore, he could not shift his weight to his back foot, which meant that he couldn't generate any power with his swing.
Most importantly, Young lost his mother in May. Losing a parent is something you know you'll have to do at some point in life, but you're never OK with it after it happens. I'm going to assume that it's something he thought about a lot and it affected his performance on the field.
Meanwhile, fans became frustrated with Young, saying that he would never be a great hitter, even though he was still hitting around .290. Young started to show some signs of promise during the last week of the regular season, which was capped off with a big grand slam against the Kansas City Royals.
The Twins would think enough of that furious finish to trade Gomez to the Milwaukee Brewers and left field officially belonged to Delmon Young. This was his last chance to make amends in Minnesota. Young lost 15 pounds and worked on his defense in the outfield. He was also able to move quicker in the outfield and his range improved, but maybe the biggest improvement is in his bat.
After Sunday's 7-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves, Young is hitting .285 with 8 HR and 40 RBI in 55 games, so about 1/3 of the season has gone by. Thinking of it that way, Young is currently on pace to get 24 HR and 120 RBI by the end of the season, the type of impact the Twins were hoping when they pulled the trigger on the deal back in 2007.
By the way, Young is 24 years old. Again, 24 YEARS OLD!!! Once again, Delmon has shownhe has the talent to emerge as a superstar in the major leagues, and maybe this is just a flash-in-the-pan hot streak, but hopefully the real Delmon Young is starting to emerge in Minnesota.
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