Dmitri Young

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Dmitri Young
Washington Nationals — No. 21
Outfielder
Bats: Both Throws: Right
Major League Baseball debut
August 29, 1996 for the St. Louis Cardinals
Selected MLB statistics
(through April 8, 2007)
Batting Average     .289
Home Runs     155
Runs Batted In     603
Former teams

    Dmitri Dell Young (b. October 11, 1973, Vicksburg, Mississippi) is a Major League Baseball player. He is the first baseman of the Washington Nationals.

    Contents

    [edit] High school career

    Dmitri Young attended Rio Mesa High School in Oxnard, California. As a senior, he batted .425 with 11 home runs, 31 runs batted in, 37 runs, and 8 doubles, and won USA Today High School All-American honors.

    [edit] Major league career

    Young was recently being used primarily as a designated hitter, but he has also played substantially as a left fielder and first baseman since reaching the majors in 1996. He also occasionally played third base and was formerly a catcher. Young is a switch-hitter and throws right-handed.

    On April 4, 2005, Young joined George Bell and Tuffy Rhodes as the only players to hit three home runs on Opening Day in Detroit's 11-2 win over the Kansas City Royals. The three-homer game took place in statistically one of the more difficult home-run stadiums, Comerica Park. He was the Tigers' lone representative at the 2003 MLB All-Star Game, although he didn't make an appearance on the field or in the batter's box. He was also known as "D'MeatHook" and "The Big D" to Tigers fans, as well as for his friendly, exuberant personality. Young was released from the Tigers on September 6, 2006 in a move that surprised both teammates and fans alike.

    In 2007 Young was a non-roster invitee to the Nationals training camp. He won his spot on the roster after Larry Broadway was sent to the Minor Leagues and Travis Lee resigned. In his first game with the Nationals he recorded 2 doubles.

    Young will receive his Detroit Tigers 2006 American League Championship ring when the Tigers play the Nationals in an interleague series at RFK Stadium in June of 2007.

    [edit] Off the field

    On May 17, 2006, the Detroit Free Press reported that Young faces a misdemeanor domestic violence charge, stemming from a heated argument with his girlfriend of two years (who was not named). "It’s a bum deal,” Young told the Free Press. “Unfortunately it’s public knowledge. I don’t see this person any more." [1] Since the Free Press article, Young spent 30 days in the rehabilitation facility, Promises Malibu, and three weeks working out with minor league teams.

    On June 13, 2006, Young failed to appear for a pretrial hearing on this matter and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest.[2] On June 23, Young appeared before the 48th District Court in Bloomfield Hills, and pled no contest two a discharge of domestic violence that came out of the May 17 report.

    On June 30, 2006, Young revealed that he has been battling alcoholism[3], which has limited his physical fitness and kept him from appearing in all but a small fraction of Tigers games during the season. He made a statement to the press in which he asserts that he has been making progress overcoming it with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous, whose logo has been tattooed on his wrist as a gesture of thanks.

    He returned to action on July 21, 2006 versus the Oakland Athletics, starting at designated hitter and ending the game with 2 hits and 2 RBI in the Tigers 7-4 win. Before the game started, FSN Detroit aired a video of Young apologizing to the fans and saying how he will continue to struggle against alcohol and drugs for the rest of his life.

    On September 6, 2006 the Tigers gave Young his unconditional release.

    [edit] Trivia

    Dmitri's younger brother Delmon Young, a former number one draft pick, currently plays for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

    Young appeared at World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)'s Survivor Series 2005 in an interview segment with Edge and Lita. Edge made fun of the Detroit Tigers, saying that they suck, while Young cracked jokes at Edge concerning his failures on capturing a World Title. The irony is that Edge would later win the WWE Championship twice within the next year and the Tigers would go on to appear in the 2006 World Series.

    Dmitri and Delmon's father, Larry Young, was a share-cropper's son from Mississippi who worked his way through school and became one the Navy's first African American F-14 fighter pilots.

    His nickname is "Da Meathook"

    [edit] See also

    [edit] External links

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