JACOB Samuel YOUNG
Nickname:   N/A Position:   OF
Home: N/A Team:   NATIONALS
Height: 5' 11" Bats:   R
Weight: 180 Throws:   R
DOB: 7/27/1999 Agent: N/A
Uniform #: 30  
Birth City: Ponte Vedra, FL
Draft: Nationals #7 - 2021 - Out of Univ. of Florida
YR LEA TEAM SAL(K) G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO OBP SLG AVG
2021 NL Fredricksburg                                
2022 CAR FREDERICKSBURG   115 465 119 122 10 8 2 46 52 7 59 82 .360 .331 .262
2023 NL NATIONALS   33 107 9 27 7 1 0 12 13 0 10 22 .322 .336 .252
2024 IL ROCHESTER   3 14 1 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 2 .313 .214 .214
2024 NL NATIONALS   150 468 75 120 24 1 3 36 33 10 30 102 .316 .331 .256
Personal
  • July 19, 2021: After drafting him in the 7th round, the Nationals signed OF Jacob Young, out of the Univ. of Florida, via scout Tommy Jackson.

    "I grew up a Gator fan, so it was a dream come true to go there," Young said.

  • 2022 Season: One of only two Minor League players to score at least 100 runs (118) and steal at least 50 bases (52), Young was named the Nationals’ Minor League Base Runner of the Year. Young, 23, tied for most runs scored among all Minor Leaguers in his 115 games with Fredericksburg. He was caught stealing only seven times.  (Jessica Camerato - Oct. 18, 2022)

  • Aug 29, 2023:  Jacob Young took the field at Rogers Centre for his fourth Major League game, still chasing a handful of career firsts. By the end of the night, the 24-year-old outfielder had become the first player in Nationals team history (2005-present) to collect his first big league hit, stolen base and outfield assist in the same game, according to Elias Sports Bureau. (J Camerato - MLB.com - Aug 30, 2023)

  • 2023 Season: Young hit wherever he went. Across three levels at Wilmington, Harrisburg and Rochester, he slashed .305/.376/.418 with a .794 OPS, 21 doubles, five triples, six homers, 58 RBIs and 39 stolen bases.

    He earned a promotion to Washington and stayed in the majors for the remainder of the season, hitting .252 with seven doubles, one triple, 12 RBIs and 13 stolen bases in 33 games. (Bobby Blanco - Oct. 8, 2023)

  • Oct 19, 2023: Nats rookie on jump to the majors: OF Jacob Young

    Began season: High-A Wilmington, Debut: Aug. 26.

    “I would say how much better the defense out here is than coming up," he said. "You’ll get a team that has a couple good defenders, I feel like you can see it. But up here, there’s just so many less hits available because you’ve got Gold Glovers and All-Stars all over the place. I would say the amount of ground that gets covered and how many less hits – even when you hit a ball hard or you think it’s a hit – how many hits defense steals. You can just tell, you’ll hit a ball that’s probably been a hit for the last 20 years of your life, and now it’s not.” (J Camerato - MLB.com - Oct 19, 2023)

  • In 2024, the Baseball America Prospect Handbook rated Jacob as the 17th best prospect in the Nationals organization.

  • Aug 17, 2024:  With a purple cleat on one foot and a green cleat on the other, it was an honor for Jacob Young to represent the strength and perseverance of two loved ones who have long supported his baseball career.

    As part of Players' Weekend, Young wore custom-designed cleats to recognize his wife, Caroline, and sister, Stacy.

    “It means the world to me,” Young said prior to the Nationals’ 5-1 defeat to the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. “It’s a way to be able to celebrate two strong women, two people that have gone through it and are now on the other side and they continue to support other people and help other people through their struggles.”

  • Caroline was diagnosed with Stage 2 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 2019 while in college, just a few weeks after the childhood friends began dating. She underwent five months of chemotherapy, and this December will mark five years cancer-free.

    “It’s to raise awareness for people going through that,” Young, 25, said. “The family members and loved ones that are going through it, the people who are involved -- kind of secondary -- and how hard it is on them. Watching [Caroline’s] family, her mom and dad, I don’t think they ever thought that was something they were going to have to go through.

    “Seeing the community support, people bringing them food, bringing them meals, trying to make their lives easier was awesome. I want to show that no matter who you are or what you’re going through with that scenario, there are people on your side, even up here in the big leagues.”

    The Youngs teamed up with the Nationals to help spread support in a video interview ahead of Players’ Weekend. A close-up of the cleats worn by Jacob Young on Aug. 17 against the Phillies.

    "Being able to share my story, I want people to know you’re not alone,” Caroline said. “You are very strong, no matter if you are cured or you live with it for a long time. Or if you’ve lost someone, they fought hard.”

  • For his older sister, Young kept his cleats a surprise until the game. Stacy was diagnosed with mitochondrial disease as a teenager, and Young told himself that if he made it in baseball, he would help raise awareness.

    “It’s probably something that not many people have heard of, honestly,” Young said. “The best way to describe it is, if your body’s a battery, instead of running on 100 percent like you should, it’s probably around 25 percent. There’s not a cure, necessarily, for it. You kind of just attack the symptoms and you go from there.”

    Young beamed when he shared that Stacy is finishing medical school.

    “She’s been a huge role model for me,” said Young. “The strength and toughness she’s shown throughout my life was a big inspiration for me. To be able to show her the cleats and wear them for her is an awesome privilege.” Taking center field at a packed Citizens Bank Park, Young proudly paid tribute to two of the strongest people he knows.

    “To be able to support them and to give them their 15 minutes or whatever you want to call it -- their nine innings -- it’s going to be a fun time,” he said. “I’m excited for them to see it and experience it.” (J Camerato - MLB.com - Aug 17, 2024)

  • 2024 Season: Age on Opening Day 2025: 25

    How acquired: Seventh-round pick, 2021 Draft

    MLB service time: 1 year, 37 days

    2024 salary: $740,000

    Contract status: Under club control, arbitration-eligible in 2027, free agent in 2030

    2024 stats: 150 G, 521 PA, 468 AB, 75 R, 120 H, 24 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 36 RBI, 33 SB, 10 CS, 30 BB, 102 SO, .256 AVG, .316 OBP, .331 SLG, .648 OPS, 86 OPS+, 11 DRS, 21 OAA, 2.6 bWAR, 2.7 fWAR

    Quotable: “Defense can definitely help, but everyone has to hit. There’s a lot of great defenders out there who didn’t stay in the league because they couldn’t hit. It’s something you’ve just got to do. Of course I want to be seen as not just a defender. I want to be seen as a guy who can play every day and produce offense, too. Obviously, baserunning goes into a lot of that, too. But being able to produce with the bat itself is huge.” – Jacob Young

    2024 analysis: You wouldn’t know it based on his final stat line, but Jacob Young didn’t make the Nationals’ Opening Day roster. His stint at Triple-A Rochester, though, lasted only three games because Victor Robles’ early hamstring injury created a void in center field. A void Young proceeded to fill the rest of the year, and perhaps for years to come.

    Touted as a good defensive outfielder, Young performed like an elite defensive outfielder. He led the majors in Outs Above Average. Not just center fielders. Not just outfielders. All major league players. He did so by possessing the best jump of any player in the sport, getting himself going in the right direction as soon as bat struck ball to give himself the best chance to reaching fly balls in the gaps or over his head. All of that made him quite valuable on the basis of his glove alone, with his 1.6 Defensive WAR rating tied for sixth-best in baseball.

    At the plate, Young got off to a hot start (.313/.352/.373 in April) but then cooled off for several months (.231/.302/.297 from May 1-Aug. 9). Some adjustments made with hitting coach Darnell Coles (repositioning of his hands, focusing on letting the ball get deeper on him before swinging) helped him go back on a modest offensive surge down the stretch. Over his final 43 games, Young slashed .280/.329/.379, giving manager Davey Martinez no reason to remove him from the everyday center field job despite the arrival of both Dylan Crews and James Wood.  (Mark Zuckerman
    - October 08, 2024)

Batting
  • Young has the traits to be a solid lead-off hitter.

    Speed is Young’s calling card. He stole 39 bases in the minors in 2023 and was not caught stealing in his 13 attempts in the majors. Some scouts remark that he’s among the best baserunners they’ve ever seen, and he posted a 98th percentile sprint speed in the big leagues. Young could compete for stolen base titles in a full-time role, but it’s an open question whether he’ll hit enough to command such an opportunity on a major league roster. Young makes plenty of contact, especially on pitches in the zone, but he struggles to hit for much power. (Savannah McCann - BA Prospect Handbook - Spring 2024)

  • Young can certainly run, showcasing plus-plus times out of the box from the right side, and he’s gotten even more aggressive on the basepaths in the pros, finishing with 52 steals in 2022 alone. That serves his offensive game well because he’s at his best when he’s making consistent contact. He struck out only 12.5 percent of the time at High-A. He puts the ball in play and lets his wheels do the work. There is some raw power, but he puts the ball on the ground too much to let it play in games, something the Nats have focused on with him as he climbs the ladder. (MLB Prospect Pipeline - Spring 2023)

  • "My goal is to be more of a table-setter. You either drive in runs or you score runs," Jacob said. "You just find your way on and let the big hitters bring you in."

Fielding
  • Jacob can play all three outfield positions well.

    Young primarily played center field upon arriving in Washington but is capable at all three outfield spots. He showed slightly above-average range and arm strength in his limited big league time. (Savannah McCann - BA Prospect Handbook - Spring 2024)

  • The former Gator certainly has the speed for center, but he keeps getting pushed to a corner by more talented outfielders — first Jud Fabian in school and now Wood and Hassell. His arm plays better in left than right, and Washington has flirted with the idea of giving him more looks at second base, where he saw some time in school.

    If he remains in left, he’ll have to hit for more impact at the higher levels, but for now, there are the makings of a potential fourth outfielder in his skillset. (MLB Prospect Pipeline - Spring 2023) 

  • 2024 Season: Young was nominated for a Gold Glove. Young definitely led in important categories of OAA and FRV, which stands for Statcast Fielding Run Value in runs above average, which is basically a metric that is used to measure a player's defensive performance on a run-based scale. Additionally, Young led the entire MLB in runs prevented as well with 18, even further reason he should be the winner here.
Running
  • In 2022, Jacob was 52-for-59 on stolen bases for Fredericksburg.

  • 2023 Season: Young profiles as a fine bench player, and stole 13 bases in only 33 games with the Nats last season. That came after stealing 39 bases in the minors. 

  • Q&A: How Young made himself into a burner on the bases.

    The skills Young is showcasing in his first full big league season are years in the making. MLB.com chatted with Young about the development of his baserunning and his path to honing this craft.

    MLB.com: How would you say you became good at running?

    Young: I think, honestly, part of it is you're born with it. As a little kid, I was always fast. But as I got older, I knew it was something that could kind of be the difference for me. I had a speed coach, [Olympic trial qualifier Almon Gunter]. I worked with him since I think I was in middle school all the way until college and pro ball. I still go see him all the time. He’s a motivational speaker, so I go see him just to kind of talk to him. We do some speed stuff, but I normally train at my normal facility now. He really helped me with form and learning how to stay fast and get faster. 

    MLB.com: How did you end up with a speed coach?

    Young: A lot of it came out of luck that he's in our area in Jacksonville. At that point, I played a bunch of sports — football, basketball, baseball. So it wasn't really a baseball thing, it was just trying to become a better athlete. A lot of soccer players [train] with him, and so I kind of heard from a couple of them and we went as a group a few times. Then a group of six of us went for five or six straight years.

    MLB.com: What did your coach instill in you?

    Young: I think a lot of it has to do with form to begin with: make sure your form is down, tight elbows. A lot of your speed really comes from your upper body, not your lower body. How fast you can pump your arms is how fast your legs are going to move. So a lot of things like that. He really taught me how to train to become fast. His thing is, if you want to be fast, you have to run fast. We just ran full speed a lot, long distances, we tried to learn that type of thing.

    MLB.com: What is your favorite running drill?

    Young: That's a tough one. We would always end the session with a 100-yard sprint. It was on a football field, so goalpost to goalpost. Just letting it eat and see how fast you can get going.

    MLB.com: Whose speed did you like to watch growing up, from any sport?

    Young: As a little kid, definitely David Eckstein. We were Angels fans. Mike Trout as I got older, for sure. Trea Turner, of course, on the Nats. Then in other sports, I love football a lot. The quick, speedy guys. At Florida, Percy Harvin was one of those guys when I was a kid. Guys like that you see are fast, and I thought it was exciting and I wanted to be like them.

    MLB.com: You are so chill but so fast and intense on the basepaths. How would you describe that shift in personality?

    Young: I think on the baseball field, I feel like I'm a different person . . . mentally at least. I'm a very friendly person in general. Even on the field, I’m very talkative to the guys, I’m never really mean to anyone. But I think it’s just adrenaline, and when I get into game mode, it pops into me, "It’s time to go" type of thing. I think it’s something that kind of turns off and on a lot during the game.

    In the dugout, it's normal, nothing crazy. And then you get on the field, it’s kind of like, "Time to go." (Jessica Camerato - May 1, 2024)