It didn’t take long for a Prince George baseball player to prove to his new club that he belongs at a higher level.
Jared Young clobbered a long shot over right field during his first plate appearance with the Chicago Cubs’ ‘AA’ affiliate, the Tennessee Smokies, which catapulted the team to an eventual 7-5 victory Thursday night (April 4) over the Mississippi Braves.
The 23-year-old Prince George Secondary School (PGSS) graduate faced a 1-1 count at the plate with two outs before notching his first home run of the 2019 regular-season.
He joins the likes of current Chicago Cubs all-stars Javier Baez and Kris Bryant, who also homered in their first ‘AA’ at-bat in the first inning.
Young was the third batter in the line-up to start the Smokies’ Southern League season-opener.
By the end of the evening, he had five at-bats that, in addition to his home run, included two hits, an RBI, and one strikeout.
According to the stats sheet, the first-baseman managed to get a ground out in the sixth inning, preventing Mississippi from tying the game and keeping Tennessee in the lead at 3-2.
The Prince George product homered twice in four days during Major League Baseball (MLB) Spring Training with Chicago, one against the San Diego Padres and the other against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
He ended up with 25 at-bats in 15 games in a Cubbies uniform before being assigned to the minors.
Young will be back in action tonight (April 5) with the Tennessee Smokies in Game Two of their five-game series with Mississippi with first pitch slated for 7 p.m. local time.
