Left-hander Alex Young, in camp with the Reds on a non-roster deal this spring, is headed for a second opinion on an elbow injury, reports Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Tommy John surgery is a possible outcome, per the report.
Young has pitched with the Reds in each of the past two seasons. Cincinnati flipped him to San Francisco last July in a deal netting outfielder Austin Slater. The Mets wound up claiming Young off waivers and non-tendering him in the offseason, at which point the Reds re-signed him to his current minor league pact.
Though he’s bounced around the league in journeyman fashion of late, Young has been quietly effective across the past three seasons. He’s pitched 96 big league innings between the Guardians, Giants, Reds and Mets during that time and turned in a 3.28 ERA with a 20.5% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate.
Young has had a rough camp in 2025, though the elbow injury likely explains his struggles. He made his spring debut on Feb. 22, tossing a scoreless outing, and then was out of game action until March 4. He got back into another game on March 8 but allowed a combined six runs in two innings between those two final appearances before getting imaging performed on his ailing elbow.
Young has pitched in parts of six major league seasons and has more than four years of MLB service. In 277 2/3 innings, he has a career 4.34 ERA with 24 holds and a save.
That’s rough. If he needs TJ surgery, hopefully he can heal up and get another crack in MLB at age 32 next season.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
He was awful before the surgery. Good for him that he can recover from surgery and still get paid. I can’t even imagine how bad he’ll be after the surgery
How’s he getting to paid? He didn’t sign a MLB deal.
I think the Reds had just assigned him to AAA camp and I would assume there is something contract-wise there. Not sure what the rules are for being injured during that.
Congrats on winning the dumbest post of the day award
LFG Mets
Good luck on that second opinion and possible surgery. At least he will be forever Young.
I almost disowned you as a fellow Reds fan for that comment. :)
Forever Young. Not bad