As his first season in a higher baseball league nears its end, a Prince George product will soon put on a pair of hot socks in the American southwest.
Jared Young is concluding his year with the Tennessee Smokies, the ‘AA’ Southern League affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, and has been named to the Major League club’s Arizona Fall League (AFL) farm team in an effort to keep his talents up to par.
The 24-year-old will lace up for the Mesa Solar Sox in the six-team, six-week season and will play with other top prospects from Cleveland, Detroit, the Los Angeles Angels, and Oakland.
Congrats to Prince George, BC native and #Cubs prospect Jared Young who will play for the Mesa Solar Sox in the @MLBazFallLeague this year!
— Baseball Canada (@baseballcanada) August 28, 2019
🇨🇦⚾️ https://t.co/so2SqfTQpc
In 118 games, the most of any other player on his Smokies roster, the first-baseman and Prince George Knights alumni is second on the team in RBIs with 55 and hits with 102, good enough for a .236 batting average.
He also has five home-runs in 2019 thus far, including one in his very first at-bat.
Young is going to the league where current Toronto Blue Jays’ star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. played last year before climbing up the ladder to the MLB.
The AFL has also showcased other current major-leaguers like Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, Cody Bellinger, Marcus Stroman, and Bryce Harper.
But first, Young has five games left in the Southern League season before trekking to the desert.
The Solar Sox will play 30 games in 38 days from Sept. 18 to Oct. 25, and, if Young plays his cards right, there’s a Fall Stars Game he could also participate in.
Mesa is about a 30-minute drive from downtown Phoenix.
The new look for the Mesa Solar Sox! pic.twitter.com/en7xLwUL5l
— MLB's Arizona Fall League (@MLBazFallLeague) August 17, 2019
