Princeton University Athletics
Chris Young Traded To Expos
December 20, 2002 | Baseball
Dec. 20, 2002
Chris Young, who in just two short years at Princeton estalished himself as one of the great two-sport athletes in school history, has been traded from the Pittsburgh Pirate organization to the Montreal Expos.
Young and Jon Searles were sent to the Expos in exchange for Matt Herges, a reliever who won 20 games for the Dodgers during the 2000 and 2001 seasons.
The 32-year-old Herges was 2-5 with a 4.04 ERA and six saves on 62 appearances with Montreal last season, striking out 50 in 64 2/3 innings.
The 6-foot-11 Young was 11-9 with a 3.11 ERA in 26 starts at Class A Hickory last season. Searles, an eighth-round pick in 1999, was 2-3 with a 5.81 ERA in 31 games at Hickory.
Young came to Princeton from Highland Park High in Dallas in 1998 without an overwhelming amount of fanfare. He immediately became the highest profile athlete at Princeton, becoming the Ivy League Rookie of the Year in both basketball and baseball and earning All-America honors in both the following year. He was a three-time first-team All-Ivy selection between the sports.
Because he turned 21 before June 1 of his sophomore year (by less than a week), Young was eligible for the Major League draft that year. The Pirates selected him in the third round of the draft, and Young signed in late August.
Due to Ivy League rules, Young was ineligible for all sports after signing a professional baseball contract. Had he been at a non-Ivy school, he would have still been able to play basketball.
Despite the demands of being a professional baseball player, Young still graduated with his class last June.