Ian Young

Ian Young

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 6", Weight 225 lb.

• School University of Hawaii at Hilo, Centenary College of Louisiana, Porterville College

• Born February 21, 1980 in Sydney, New South Wales Australia

Biographical Information

Ian Young starred in a couple European Championships. His career took him to many countries in Europe.

After college, Young began his long baseball journey in Europe. He has played for England's Windsor Bears, Sweden's Alby Stars, Holland's Robur 58, Germany's Tübingen Hawks, Portugal's Academica Coimbra and France's Senart Templier. Young hit .415/.500/.683 in 12 games for Tübingen in 2006 but failed to play enough to qualify for the league lead in anything. In 2007, he hit .254/.376/.320 for Senart Templier.

Young has played for the British national team since 2000. He hit .296/.355/.444 in the 2001 European Championship and did well in the 2003 European Championship (7 for 16, 3 2B, 3B). In the 2005 European Championship, he tied Danny Rombley for the best average (.500) and led with a .600 OBP; he slugged .667. He led Britain with 9 hits. He failed to make the tourney All-Star team as Jairo Ramos Gizzi was picked at first base. In the 2007 European Championship, Young batted .345/.472/.517 with 11 RBI in eight games to help Britain to its second ever silver medal (the first coming in 1967). He was 0 for 3 in the Gold Medal game, getting hit by a Michiel van Kampen pitch in Great Britain's 6-1 loss.

In the 2008 European Cup in Regensburg, Young hit .333/.350/.389 for Sénart. In the regular Division Elite season, he hit .272/.355/.364 with 35 runs and 30 RBI in 48 games for the Templiers. He also went 0-2 on the mound.

Ian signed on with the Rouen Huskies in Division Elite for the 2009 season. He was also named to the preliminary 40-man roster for the British national team that will play in the 2009 Baseball World Cup but did not make the final cut. He was on the British team in the 2012 European Championship but did not play.

Playing first base for Britain in the 2013 European Championship Qualifier, Ian finished with the highest batting average in the tournament at .588, more than 100 points above the next best. He was among the league leaders in most other offensive categories as well and received the Best Batter award for the tournament.

Through 2017, he was the all-time British national team leader in average (100+ AB; .374, .047 ahead of Alan Bloomfield), hits (49, 4 ahead of Brad Marcelino), doubles (10, two ahead of Matt McGraw and Marcelino), triples (3, tied for first with Oscar Marcelino) and RBI (35, 9 ahead of Sam Wiley). He tied Brian Thurston for 9th in runs (18). That year, he joined Don Smallwood and Nick Carter in being voted into the British Baseball Hall of Fame.

Sources

• German Baseball and Softball Federation
• Bio of Ian Young
• British Baseball Federation bio
• Division Elite
• Harry Wedemeijer's international tourney stats
• 2005 European Championship stats
• 2008 European Cup in Regensburg
• Baseball in Europe by Josh Chetwynd
• 2008 Division Elite stats
• Interview for the Rouen Huskies, with several pictures
• Mr. Baseball lists the 40-man British roster for the '09 World Cup
• Extra Innings: Baseball Around the World 7/27/2013
• British Baseball Hall of Fame
• Project COBB