2008 Projection: Delmon Young March 29th, 2008 at 2:06 pm

By Kris Richardson

Delmon Young will be duking it out with Carlos Gomez as fan’s favorite Twins’ newcomer in 2008. Delmon definitely has the edge in that he’s already an established every-day player. Delmon, younger brother of Dmitri Young, came to the Twins in the Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett trade in November. Let’s take a look at his numbers:

Year	Age	AB	BA	OBP	SLG	HR	BB	K	SB
2008 ZiPS	22	589	.294	.324	.421	13	26	118	11
2007	21	645	.288	.316	.408	13	26	127	10
2006	20	126	.317	.336	.476	3	1	24	2

Delmon Young, at age 22, has a lot of potential. 2007 was his first full year in the majors he trailed only Ichiro Suzuki in the AL for most at-bats. He played in all 162 of Tampa Bay’s games. Delmon is a free-swinging right handed hitter, whom that Twins hope can develop into more of a power hitter as me matures.

Young spent most of his time as a RF last season for Tampa Bay (and also played 29 games in CF), but he’ll shift over to LF for the Twins in 2008. He has a rocket of an arm, so combined with Michael Cuddyer and Carlos Gomez, baserunners will be thinking twice before trying to advance an extra base this year.

Young has a well publicized temper, and has had his name inserted into sports writers’ often used “changed person / change of scenery” story template. I’ll believe it when I see it. Delmon Young isn’t near the Elijah Dukes category of bad athletes, so I’m not too concerned about him being a problem.

Young will fit nicely as the Twin’s #3 hitter, allowing Joe Mauer to move to #2, a position more fit for him. Mauer, Young, Morneau, and Cuddyer should make for a pretty fun middle of the lineup to watch this year.