The Statcast™ math on Jacob Young has already highlighted some of his impressive tools. He is not a 5-tool player as nobody expects him to be a power hitter. Is he a 3½-tool player? He will have to show he can hit at better than .256 with more walks at the MLB level — but it’s really just one more hit a week that separates Young from being an All-Star.
His goal should be to increase his 6.17 hits per 28 at-bats by one more hit. That is all Young needs — basically one more hit a week to be an All-Star. In order to do that, he needs to change his predictability of linear contact. In 2024, Young only had a 19.57 K-rate with a BABIP of .321 which seems a little low given his elite speed. Raise the batting average by the equivalent of one more hit every 28 at-bats and all of a sudden, Young is a .292 hitter. Getting there is what players like Luis Arráez figured out by finding more green outfield grass as he went from .298 in 2018 in Double-A to .343 the following year on the same team.
Look at Young’s bat speed and look at Arráez. It is Arráez who is the lowest in all of baseball at just 63.2 mph. Young has 5.0 mph over him. What Young has over Arráez is the speed game. Young’s bunting, a source told us, got a challenge from general manager Mike Rizzo to get 15 bunt hits. He finished with 11 bunt hits, but only 17 infield hits in 2024. Arráez hits 27 percent of his contact as line drives and Young is at 23 percent. That makes up for some of it. The real difference is that Arráez just doesn’t strikeout (much). He had a total of 18 Ks the entire season so when his BABIP is .324 — his batting average will be real close to that number.
For someone who hits as weakly (bat speed) as Arráez, he takes advantage of his unpredictability in spraying the ball all over the field. He serves those balls over the infielders like a tennis player’s forehand lob. Those balls end up all over the shallow outfield. He is a 2-extreme player if you look at the blue and red rankings on his Statcast — both great and awful that it makes him seem lucky — but it’s his ability in bat control that makes him so good. He’s not fast, and his defense isn’t good — but he just hits for average with little power. Could you imagine if he had speed and defense? Young needs to spray the ball more and keep working on lowering his K% and let BABIP work for him.
“It’s meant the world to be given this chance by the Nationals, and then to have all these moments, these ‘firsts,’ is an awesome opportunity. To be able to help win a game … it feels really good … Hopefully we can keep it going.”
— Young said after his callup in 2023 when he delivered his first walk-off hit
Drafted by the Nationals in the 7th round of the 2021 draft from the University of Florida, Young spent his 2022 season in Single-A Fredericksburg for the full season and was promoted to begin this year in High-A Wilmington where he flashed the hit tool that earned him a promotion to Harrisburg where he put up even better stats and an .805 OPS that opened eyes, and he parlayed that to a promotion to Triple-A and then the bigs. It is rare to have a player go from A-ball to the Majors in the same season.
In 2023 in the minors, Young’s power came from lots of legged-out triples (5), 21 doubles, and also six home runs. Before his MLB debut, Young was ranked №24 on Baseball America’s recent rankings in their Nats’ Top-30. He was №29 in MLB Pipeline’s rankings. More proof that anyone who ranked Young that low was not paying attention. He was №18 in our last ranking.
Here is what Baseball America wrote in their scouting report on Young, “In his first full season, he wowed at the plate and on the basepaths. He was one of just two minor league players to score at least 100 runs and steal at least 50 bases in 2022. Some scouts called him one of the best baserunners they have ever seen.”
His MLB Pipeline Scouting grades: Hit: 45 | Power: 35 | Run: 70 | Arm: 45 | Field: 55 | Overall: 40
You might say that MLB Pipeline was light on the hit, arm, and especially the fielding tools. One fact most might not know is that the Florida Gators recruited the 5’11” player as a middle infielder and played him at second base for most of his first season, and then converted Young to an outfielder to take advantage of that blazing speed.
In his third career start, Young really opened eyes. He threw out a runner at home that covered 3-feet short of 300 feet at 93.4 mph of arm strength that keyed the win. His running sprint speed on his first bunt single had an elite 30.7 sprint speed defined by Statcast™ as “feet per second in a player’s fastest one-second window”. Young already put up the Nats’ fastest sprint speed, and second best arm strength just behind Lane Thomas in 2023. You don’t think of Young as having a strong arm as it comes and goes. Absolute tools blazing to help win games (plural). With those type of tools and the intangibles of being a major havoc wreaker, it’s the Gold Glove defense that sets Young apart — even if he wasn’t actually given the award in 2024 — he was a finalist.
The Nats starting outfield for 2025 is Young in center field, Dylan Crews in right field, and James Wood in left field. With Crews showing off his defense after being named a minor league Gold Glover last year, if Wood shows improvement going aggressively on balls in front of him — this could be the best defensive outfield in baseball.
“I would have been really excited [if someone told me what I would have accomplished already], but I don’t know if I would have believed them. It’s been a dream come true, and it’s been awesome. I hope to keep it going.”
— Young said after a walk-off hit after his callup in August 2023
We all know that baseball is all about “what have you done for me lately” and as Young acutely said, “I hope to keep it going.” You must or you will be gone. They don’t expect walk-offs every time you have the opportunity, but they do expect you to put up the numbers. Martinez was criticized immediately by some for moving Young from the lead-off but having Young in the 9-hole is like having a double lead-off man before the lineup turns over.
To have that type of speed with CJ Abrams at the lead-off is a lot of potential stolen bases. The pair combined for 64 swipes last year with Young leading the team. Young scored 75-runs from that 9-hole in only 521 plate appearances. Abrams scored 79 with 602 plate appearances. Abrams drove in Young a total of 19 times. The next highest total was that Abrams drove in Senzel a total of only six times. Young is a run creator. He gets himself into scoring position. The game on offense is about scoring runs — any way you can.
