Kyle Young, a promising Phillies southpaw prospect, has retired.
The Philadelphia Phillies organization recently received surprising news, as one of their promising pitching prospects, the left-handed throwing Kyle Young, retired from professional baseball.
The Phillies drafted the 7-foot-tall Young in the 22nd round of the 2016 draft out of St. Dominic High School in New York. He immediately adjusted and excelled, going 3-0 with a 2.67 ERA, 19-2 strikeouts-to-walks ratio, and 0.926 WHIP with the GCL Phillies to finish that year’s season.
In 2017, Young continued to shine; spanning 13 starts, he went 7-2 with a 2.77 ERA, 72-15 strikeouts-to-walks ratio, and 1.123 WHIP across 65 innings with the New York-Pennsylvania League’s Williamsport Crosscutters. That fall, the Phils presented Young with one of their minor-league community service awards.
Young also threw 13 starts in 2018 combined between the GCL Phillies West, Crosscutters, and Lakewood BlueClaws; he struck out 50 of his 230 batters faced, while walking just nine and posting a 2.73 ERA.
The Syosset, New York, native was limited to just four April starts the following season with the high-A Clearwater Threshers due to undergoing Tommy John surgery. He went 1-3 with a 4.29 ERA, and a 25-1 strikeouts-to-walks ratio. Young never pitched again in a live professional game with the Phillies.
“Kyle told me he had reached a point where it didn’t feel good to keep going and decided to submit his retirement papers,” writes Phillies Baseball Fan’s Steve Potter.
Young, who will turn 23 on December 2, was among the Rule 5-eligible Phils prospects; the organization recently protected six from being plucked in next month’s draft, but you have to wonder if Young would have been among them had he not retired.
Baseball Savant praised Young’s breaking ball, changeup, and fastball — which had “excellent life” that led to ground ball outs. “all of Young’s stuff plays up because he has such a strong feel for the strike zone,” they write.”
Best wishes to Young and his next chapter of life.