Young is the son of former MLB player Eric Young Sr. who was just 18 at the time of his sons birth. Young & his girlfriend never married, but he kept close contact with his son spending summers with him & teaching him baseball.
Eric Young Jr. attended Piscataway High School in Jersey & then moved on to Community College in Arizona. The speedy five foot ten switch hitter was signed by the Colorado Rockies in the 30th round of the 2003 amateur draft.
In 2006 he swiped 87 bases at A ball Asheville, the most of all minor leaguers, while batting .295. He was also caught stealing more than any other player as well.

Young remained consistent when promoted to AA Tulsa in 2008, batting .290 with 46 stolen bases.
In 2009 he made it to the big leagues, debuting with the Rockies on August 25th. He got a hit in that game a 5-4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. At the time the Rockies were just two games behind the Dodgers in the NL West.

In 2010 he began the year at Colorado, but was sent back down from mid May until mid August. That year he stole 17 bases getting caught six times, while batting .244 in 51 games. In 2011 he played in 77 games batting .247 while leading the Rockies, stealing 27 bases & posting a 87% stolen base percentage (5th best in the league).
In 2013 he batted .242 with 9 doubles & three triples in 57 games at Colorado, but with Michael Cuddyer, Dexter Fowler & Carlos Gonzalez all doing better, there was no room for Young.
On June 12th he was designated for assignment & a week later got traded to the New York Mets for Collin McHugh. His roster spot was opened up as Collin Cowgill, who began the year as the Mets main centerfielder was sent back down for a second time.

On Friday June 21st, he doubled in the 4th inning scoring on David Wright's base hit. In the 5th he singled to centerfield off Cole Hamels bringing in two Mets runs & tying up the game.
The Mets went on to a 4-3 win. In a heartbreaking 8-7 walk off loss on Saturday, after the Mets had come back from being down 7-1, Young had two more hits with two more RBIs.

In his next at bat he hit a single, then in the 5th he doubled to left field scoring Harvey after his RBI double, putting the Mets up 4-0. He would cross the plate on David Wright's double making it 5-0 as the Mets went on to a 8-0 victory.

Young hit safely in 19 of his first 25 Mets games. In July the speedster stole bases in five straight games, with 13 overall in the month.
On August 2nd, Young won the game with a walk off HR in the bottom of the 11th inning off the Royals Luis Mendoza. It was only his second HR of the year.
In the last two weeks of August he had three games where stole two bases & swiped ten in that span. He also had four games where he scored two runs or more. In September he stole 13 more bases which gave him enough to lead the NL on the year.

On the year he had 134 hits with 27 doubles 7 triples (7th in the NL), two HRs, 32 RBIs, 10 sac hits (8th in the NL) & 70 runs scored.

In the off season the Mets signed Curtis Granderson & Chris Young. Along with Juan Lagures it made for a crowded outfield.
Young was the Mets regular left fielder & lead off man to start out the 2014 season. He didn't get his first hit until his fourth game but when he did start getting on base he stole bases.
After Juan Lagares & Chris Young came off the DL, Eric Young saw a bit less playing time, mostly due to the fact he was batting just .218 though May 11th.
But Chris Young fell into a slump & the way Eric Young made things happen when he did get on base, couldn't be ignored.
He came back with back to back three hit games & hit his first HR in the Mets 9-7 subway series win over the A.L. club. In that game he had three hits, a HR, drove in two runs, scored two runs & stole a base.
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Eric Young Sr. & Jr. |
On June 28th he stole three bases in a 5-3 over the Pirates in Pittsburgh.
Young Jr. ended the year stealing 30 bases (6th in the NL) batting .229 with 48 runs scored, ten doubles, five triples, one HR & 17 RBIs. His six assists as a left fielder were second best in that position. In the off season he signed on with the Atlanta Braves.
After spending 35 games with the Braves he returned to the Mets in September for the pennant run.

On September 14th he came in to pinch run for Wilmer Flores in the 7th inning of a 3-3 tie with the Miami Marlins.
Young stole second base & scored the games inning run on David Wrights base hit. Young is a good ballplayer who can make a difference on the base paths.

In 18 games he went 0-8 with 2015 Mets. He did not make the post season roster.
In 2016 he signed with the Milwaukee Brewers & then was purchased by the A.L. New York team where he played in just six games.
In 2017 he signed a deal with the L.A. Angels. In 47 games there he hit .264 with 4 HRs & 16 RBIs, stealing 12 bases. He returned in 2018 playing 41 games batting just .202 with five stolen bases.
In 2019 he moved on to the Baltimore Orioles playing 13 Spring Training games, batting a solid .323 with 1 HR & 2 stolen bases, but was released on March 21st. Young then signed on with the Seattle Mariners but did not make the big league squad.
Career Stats: In his ten year career he has played in 651 games batted .245 with 422 hits 162 stolen bases, 13 HRs 67 doubles 22 triples 112 RBIs & 275 runs scored & with a .312 on base %.
In his three years with Mets he played in 209 games batting .239 with 71 stolen bases.
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