In his fourth big-league game and third start after his 2023 call-up, center fielder Jacob Young was a busy man against the home-standing Toronto Blue Jays. In the seventh, he laid down a perfect bunt and beat it out without throw for his first hit in the majors. Noted for his speed, the Nationals 2022 minor league base-runner of the year proceeded to steal second base.
But in the bottom of the eighth and the Nationals lead cut to two runs, he shocked players of both teams and Blue Jays fans after catching a fly ball nearly 300 feet from the plate. There was one out and man on third – the Jays’ stocky catcher Alejandro Kirk.
Nationals’ catcher Keibert Ruiz said he wasn’t sure Young would bother to throw home from that deep in left-center field, even with a slow runner trying to score on a sacrifice fly. But Young, after calling off left fielder Alex Call, unleashed a laser beam on the fly right into the glove of his catcher, who didn’t have to move other than to apply a tag on the lumbering Kirk. Rather than pulling the Rays within a run, the inning was over with the double play. Young had his first assist, and the Nats were still up by two.
“You know there’s no one else on base, so you can kind of let it fly,” Young told reporters after the game. MLB.com’s Jessica Camerato wrote that Young’s throw was measured at an arm speed of 93.4 mph from 297 feet away. The out-at-the-plate became crucial when the Blue Jays scored in the ninth before falling, 5-4.
“You always remember your first hit,” Young said. “But helping in a situation like that and helping the team win like that is something I’ll never forget for my first assist.”
No Nationals rookie had ever had the three-way combination Young achieved in the game. He came to the majors on August 26 a few games after he had reached AAA Rochester with a reputation as an outstanding defender. In his three minor league seasons, he was never charged with an error.
Young’s performance wasn’t unprecedented for a Washington rookie in a game in which he recorded his first hit. On September 12, 1965, Jim French started behind the plate in his first major league game for the expansion Senators. He went 2-for-2 with two run-scoring singles and walked twice in four times up. He also stole a base and threw out a runner trying to steal, giving him an assist.
In a weird coincidence, French’s debut came in the game in which teammate Brant Alyea homered on the first pitch he saw in the major leagues. The Senators beat the Angeles, 7-1 at D.C. Stadium that night before a paid crowd of just 840.
French played parts of seven seasons as a Nat, but just three – 1968, ’69 and ’70 — as the main backup. He had a good eye at the plate. He walked far more than he struck out. Despite a .196 lifetime average, his on-base percentage was .328. In two years under manager Ted Williams, his OBP was .348 and .358.
Another Nats catcher, Paul Casanova, in his first start, went 3-for-4 with an RBI for his first MLB hit, six days after French made his debut. Cazzie also lasted seven years, mostly as a starter and made an all-star team with the Nats. French was his main backup for three seasons.
With Victor Robles out for the year and Alex Call hitting below the Mendoza line, Jacob Young started in center in September 2023. If he were told now that he’d be with the team for seven years, as Casanova and French were, he’d probably take it.
Washington baseball history 