When the Dodgers acquired veteran Michael Young at the August 31 waiver trade deadline, there wasn’t anyone who thought it was a bad acquisition. In fact, most Dodger fans and baseball analysts saw it as a great acquisition. After all, the (then) 36-year-old Covina, CA native and seven-time All Star had a 14-year career batting average of exactly .300 with 185 career home runs and was the 2005 AL Batting Champion. Yep, a great acquisition for a guy who is often called “a professional hitter.”

But when you look at the numbers that Michael Young put up in his 21 games with the Dodgers (16 for 51 for a .314 batting average), it makes you scratch your head and say “What did I miss?”

I don’t mean this as a knock on Young’s outstanding MLB career but he basically did nothing for the Dodgers regardless of his .314 batting average. You would think that a guy who hit .314 really would have stood out but truth be told, Michael Young did his best hitting with two outs or with no one on base. In fact, he had a grand total of four RBIs in those 51 at bats. To put this in perspective, Zack Greinke, a pitcher, had four RBIs in 58 at bats – which probably would have been more had he not been called upon to (successfully) sac bunt six times.

In his brief time with the Dodgers, Young was notorious for going after the first pitch – not exactly what I would call being a “professional hitter.” (Photo credit – Jae C. Hong)

And who can forget Young’s dismal 0 for 7 during the NLCS – most notably when he couldn’t hit a fly ball far enough to score Mark Ellis from third base which would have won Game-1 for the Dodgers but instead caused a flood of (unnecessary) controversy when Ellis was called out at the plate on a non-tag by Yadier Molina, in spite of the fact that Ellis was out by five feet (or more).

And while Young went a combined 1 for 10 (.100) in four NLDS and six NLCS games, Scott Van Slyke, who hit seven home runs and eight doubles for the Dodgers during the regular season, had exactly zero at bats during those 10 postseason games. (And the Dodgers were hesitant to offer Mattingly a contract extension why?).

The point to all of this is that regardless of the outstanding career that Michael Young has had (and it has been a great one), he was basically invisible in his short stint with the Dodgers – at the expense of minor league left-hander Rob Rasmussen, who is 3-4 with a 2.55 ERA at Double-A Chattanooga. And while hindsight is always 20/20, the Dodgers would have been better off having Jerry Hairston Jr. on their playoff roster(s) than Young; and most certainly should have had Scott Van Slyke replace AGon at first base in a move that never should have happened in the first place.

As much as I respect and acknowledge Michael Young’s brilliant career, he is not a free agent utility bench player that the Dodgers should consider re-signing this off-season.