Michael Young is a professional hitter – at least so says Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins and Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro. Heck, even Dodger general manager Ned Colletti says so.

“He’s a professional hitter in a lot of ways,” said the Dodger GM shortly before the deal was finalized only minutes before the August 31 trade deadline which would have kept Young off of the Dodgers post-season roster.

Former MLB manager and current DodgerTalk Radio host Kevin Kennedy also says that Young is a professional hitter.

“Michael Young is a great guy and professional hitter,” said Kennedy on his talk show after learning of the trade.

Why all of this talk about Michael Young being a professional hitter, you ask?

It’s simple, really – Michael Young’s recent at bats do not resemble those of a so-called professional hitter. In fact, in his last five at bats (four on Tuesday night and one on Wednesday night), Young is 0 for 5 and he swung at the first pitch in three of those five at bats. I would argue that this is anything but being a professional hitter.

The Dodgers need Michael Young the professional hitter in the playoffs, not the other guy. (Photo credit – Dustin Bradford)

But wait, there’s more.

In those five at bats, Young never hit the ball out of the infield. He grounded out to short, grounded out to third, ground out weakly to the pitcher, reached on a throwing error on what should have been an inning-ending double play, and hit a five-foot ‘nubber’ (as Vin Scully calls them) only to be thrown out at first base by the catcher. These were not professional at bats, these are what Dodger manager Don Mattingly calls “Giving away at bats.” To make matters even worse, Young stranded four men on base in these five at bats and the Dodgers lost both games.

Now this is not to say the those two Dodger losses were Young’s fault, they most certainly were not, but his first-pitch swinging certainly didn’t help matters any.

In all fairness it’s kind of hard to bag on the 36-year-old Covina, CA native – Heaven knows Young is a great baseball player and is 15 for 43 (.349) since joining the Dodgers. He is also a great veteran clubhouse presence and has more post-season experience than anyone else on the team, which could prove to be huge for the Dodgers in the playoffs. However, if he continues to go after the first pitch, he could very well hurt the team more than help it.

Realistically Young will probably see very little playing time during the playoffs, but you can bet that he will be the very first guy that Mattingly will call upon to pinch hit, thus making his at bats extremely important.

Let’s just hope it’s Michael Young the professional hitter who steps into the batter’s box when called upon and not that first-pitch swinging other Michael Young.