Dmitri Young has had to battle his demons.
In 2006 while playing for the Tigers he disappeared; evading police on assault charges. No one knew where Dmitri was; not the Tigers, the police, or even most of his family.
Dmitri was in rehab, at the Betty Ford clinic. Whether or not he was there by his choice is up in the air. What is known is that when he found himself with his hands around his wife’s throat, Young had hit rock bottom. After his stint in rehab the Tigers released him. Dmitri had lost his family, his dignity, and now baseball. Some don’t make the choice to collect everything and rebuild after hitting the low of lows, But Dmitri did.
In 2007, with clean blood and a clean head, Young signed a minimum contract with the only team that would take him, the Washington Nationals. While physically he wasn’t his old self, mentally he was stronger then ever before.
As Yogi Berra once said, “90 percent of this game is half mental.”
Young exploded after earning a starting spot with the Nationals. He led the National League in batting for much of the first half and earned an all star spot in San Francisco. It was the perfect situation fro the Nationals. They signed a player as a gamble for next to nothing only to have his value sky rocket. Young could now be traded to a team he could actually help get to the playoffs and in return the Nationals could get something they could actually use, prospects.
As with Soriano the year before, the trade deadline came and went and found Jim Bowden sitting at his desk, deal-less. Once again a brilliant, or perhaps lucky, move on Bowden’s part turned useless as he was unable to pull the trigger on a deal to further the future of his young franchise.
Young of course stayed on the Nationals, completed an excellent season and won the National League Comeback Player of the Year award. In the off-season he resigned with Washington, and will likely finish out his career there.
While Dmitri will likely never help the Nationals make a playoff push, his value can now be measure in a new way. Stan Caston has asked Dmitri to show two other troubled young ball players through the darkness of troubled times, Elijah Dukes and Lastings Milledge.
So far it appears his wisdom has paid off as neither player has yet to cause any distractions. Milledge has been the best all around player for the Nationals and Dukes hopes to provide a spark when he comes back from his strained hamstring. While Young has yet to play this season, as he is in a tough battle with diabetes, his impact on this franchise may be greater then anyone could ever have thought. The Big Teddy bear may end up being the godfather for the next generation of Nationals baseball.
In 2006 while playing for the Tigers he disappeared; evading police on assault charges. No one knew where Dmitri was; not the Tigers, the police, or even most of his family.
Dmitri was in rehab, at the Betty Ford clinic. Whether or not he was there by his choice is up in the air. What is known is that when he found himself with his hands around his wife’s throat, Young had hit rock bottom. After his stint in rehab the Tigers released him. Dmitri had lost his family, his dignity, and now baseball. Some don’t make the choice to collect everything and rebuild after hitting the low of lows, But Dmitri did.
In 2007, with clean blood and a clean head, Young signed a minimum contract with the only team that would take him, the Washington Nationals. While physically he wasn’t his old self, mentally he was stronger then ever before.
As Yogi Berra once said, “90 percent of this game is half mental.”
Young exploded after earning a starting spot with the Nationals. He led the National League in batting for much of the first half and earned an all star spot in San Francisco. It was the perfect situation fro the Nationals. They signed a player as a gamble for next to nothing only to have his value sky rocket. Young could now be traded to a team he could actually help get to the playoffs and in return the Nationals could get something they could actually use, prospects.
As with Soriano the year before, the trade deadline came and went and found Jim Bowden sitting at his desk, deal-less. Once again a brilliant, or perhaps lucky, move on Bowden’s part turned useless as he was unable to pull the trigger on a deal to further the future of his young franchise.
Young of course stayed on the Nationals, completed an excellent season and won the National League Comeback Player of the Year award. In the off-season he resigned with Washington, and will likely finish out his career there.
While Dmitri will likely never help the Nationals make a playoff push, his value can now be measure in a new way. Stan Caston has asked Dmitri to show two other troubled young ball players through the darkness of troubled times, Elijah Dukes and Lastings Milledge.
So far it appears his wisdom has paid off as neither player has yet to cause any distractions. Milledge has been the best all around player for the Nationals and Dukes hopes to provide a spark when he comes back from his strained hamstring. While Young has yet to play this season, as he is in a tough battle with diabetes, his impact on this franchise may be greater then anyone could ever have thought. The Big Teddy bear may end up being the godfather for the next generation of Nationals baseball.
3 comments:
Don Dmitri
way to photoshop a nats hat onto him when that pic was clearly taken when he was with the tigers.
I'm going to go ahead and say Yodalis didn't do that. I've seen that picture all over the place.
Great article, yards.
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