Jared Young is officially a member of the Chicago Cubs organization.
Young, a 21-year-old who was born and raised in Prince George, signed a contract with the Major League Baseball team on Tuesday in Mesa, Ariz. The Cubs, the defending World Series champion, selected Young in the 15th round (465th overall) of the MLB draft on June 14.
"It was pretty cool," Young said of scrawling his name on the document. "It was definitely kind of a surreal feeling but a long time coming and I'm glad it's finally happened.
"It was a neat feeling and one I won't forget, that's for sure."
Young got to Mesa at about midnight on Sunday so he could join other top prospects for medical testing. His own testing began at 5:30 Monday morning so he didn't get much chance to rest after his arrival from Virginia, where he had been playing NCAA Division 1 baseball for the Old Dominion University Monarchs of Norfolk.
"(I had) lots of doctors' appointments and bloodwork - a lot of the technicalities that come along with (being drafted) and making sure that I'm healthy," he said. "They treat you as an investment now so they want to make sure you can do everything they need you to do. No baseball stuff yet, mostly just meetings and the doctors' appointments."
Young has also done some agility testing. As for what comes next, he's not sure.
"We don't really know," he said. "They're playing it pretty slow and tight to the vest so for now I'm in Arizona and I don't really know what the next move is."
Young said he doesn't even know how long he'll be in Arizona.
"We don't know anything - I've never seen anything like it," he said with a chuckle. "We'll play baseball when they tell us. That's about all you can go with."
Prior to draft day, Young had moved up through the college baseball ranks and had just finished his first season with the Monarchs. And what a season it was. He led his team in 11 offensive categories, including Conference USA batting average (.433, which also led the league), triples (four), home runs (seven), runs (57) and stolen bases (nine). Defensively, he had a stellar .974 fielding percentage, with just six errors in 58 games.
Young helped the Monarchs to a 37-21 record, was named the Conference USA Newcomer of the Year and an Honorable Mention All-American. As well, he made the Conference USA All-Academic Team.
