Michael Young finds perfect fit as Rangers special assistant

He’s only out here for three days but he’s working.

In some ways, longer and harder than when he was an All-Star for the Texas Rangers.

Michael Young lamented Thursday morning that when he was still playing his spring training days were usually done by noon, at least before games began. But as one of the club’s three special assistants to the general manager, his days go longer while helping instruct minor leaguers.

“I used to come in, lift in the morning, finish on the field and my day was done,” said Young, who is in camp for three days. “I was on the backfields talking about base running with the minor league kids and I see all these nice cars leaving and I was like, ‘Those were the days.’ Not anymore.”

But he’s loving his role with the Rangers, which was formally announced in November. He joins former Rangers Pudge Rodriguez and Darren Oliver, taking turns working with the younger players in the system.

It allows Young, who played for the Rangers for 12 full seasons before retiring after the 2013 season, to keep one foot in the game he loves while still enjoying family life.

“I knew how much I missed the game. It’s a huge part of who I am and what I’ve done for my whole life,” he said. “This is perfect for me. Come back a little bit and do what I want to do and with some flexibility.”

It’s also perfect for the organization. To have one of the most revered players in the club’s history try to pass along his wealth of knowledge to young prospects. For new manager Jeff Banister, Young adds another seasoned set of eyes for evaluating talent, correcting bad habits and providing a mentor in the clubhouse.

It’s great for an organization “any time you can sit down with a guy like Michael Young and have an engaging conversation about the game of baseball, players, assessment, evaluations,” Banister said. “I’ve been impressed. He’s been a great help to me. I imagine he’s going to be a great help to all of us.”

It’s not always going to be easy trying to get through to some of the younger players, as Young found out Wednesday. Michael De Leon, an 18-year-old shortstop who played most of last season with Class A Hickory, was one of the first examples.

Young watched as De Leon attacked fastballs during batting practice but struggled on changeups.

“The next at-bat what do you look for?” Young asked him in combination of Spanish and English. De Leon responded, “Fastball.”

Young tried to explain that he should be looking changeup because that’s likely what the pitcher would go to. But De Leon wasn’t budging. He was still looking for the fastball.

“It kind of reminds me not to put too much on an 18-year-old’s plate,” Young said. “That’s the fun part for me is try and see how to help all these guys individually, you can’t give them some blanket information because one guy’s not going to take it the same as another. You have to tailor it to each individual kid. That’s lesson No. 1 for me. He’s probably thinking, who’s this old guy telling me to sit on changeups?”

The whole experience had Young reflecting on his first spring training camp in 1998 as a 21-year-old with the Blue Jays. Back then, he said, there was no chance the big league manager was going to be seeking him out for pointers. At least not the way he watched Banister have a long conversation with 21-year-old outfielder Nick Williams.

“It was different back then,” he said. “But it is similar in a sense that there’s that same hunger in their eyes. They’re scratching and clawing in the minor leagues trying to get up here where the games are a lot more fun, a lot more competitive; there’s no higher level than this.”

This story was originally published February 26, 2015 at 6:46 PM with the headline "Michael Young finds perfect fit as Rangers special assistant."