Ernie Young

Ernest Wesley Young (born July 8, 1969) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and current coach for the United States national baseball team. He played in parts of eight seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for five different teams, primarily the Oakland Athletics. He also played one season in Japan for the Yokohama BayStars, and was a member of the United States' gold medal-winning baseball team at the 2000 Summer Olympics. As a player, Young was listed at 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) and 190 pounds (86 kg); he bats and throws right-handed. In his major league career, Young played in 288 games, had 179 hits, 27 home runs, 90 RBI, 10 stolen bases, and a .225 batting average. In 2000, he led the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds with 35 home runs (second in the entire St. Louis Cardinals organization to Jim Edmonds' 42) and 98 RBIs (third in the organization behind Troy Farnsworth with 113 and Edmonds with 108). On June 12, 2006, he hit his 300th career minor league home run. As a member of the Oakland Athletics, in a game against the Tigers, Young started a triple play with a leaping catch in center field. Following his retirement after the 2007 season, Young became the hitting coach on the Chicago White Sox' rookie-level team, the Great Falls Voyagers. On November 21, 2008, he was named the manager of the Kannapolis Intimidators for the 2009 season. In 2011, Young was tabbed to manage the West Michigan Whitecaps, the class A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers, a position he retained for the 2012 season, but not for 2013.