Early slump doesn't seem to bother Young a bit

Ben Margot, AP

Delmon Young was greeted by teammates in the dugout after scoring the Twins’ first run Tuesday night in their 5-4 victory at Oakland.

Delmon Young came into Tuesday batting only .236, but the new Twins left fielder says he always has been a slow starter at the beginning of a season.

By LA VELLE E. NEAL III, Star Tribune

Last update: April 23, 2008 - 12:46 AM

OAKLAND, CALIF. — It was three hours before first pitch on Tuesday. Delmon Young had a bat and was looking for a place to swing it.

"Where's the batting cage around here?" Young asked Twins teammate Justin Morneau, who was in the middle of a hockey discussion.

"You've got to go around, then up and it's right there," Morneau said of the maze that is the bowels of McAfee Coliseum.

Young, entering the day batting .236, thanked Morneau and headed to get some hacks in.

Many around baseball predict that the run production will just pour out of the 22-year old Young, but the Twins still are waiting to see it. Still, it would be wrong to believe the alarm has gone off, and Young is working even harder to fight through some slump, because he scoffs at the small sample size that comes with April baseball.

"It's early," Young said. "You get away with some stuff before the scouting reports get out."

Sure enough, he doubled off the wall on the first pitch he saw Tuesday night. He later had a single, finishing 2-for-4 in the Twins' 5-4 victory over the Athletics.

"That's why there's 162 games," Young said. "Not everyone comes out batting .300 at the start or at the finish."

There's isn't a lot to go on here. Young was batting .222 on May 15 last season while with Tampa Bay but batted .306 the rest of the way, finishing at .288 with 13 homers and 93 RBI. He then became the key part of the six-player offseason deal that brought him, Brendan Harris and Jason Pridie to the Twins from the Rays for Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett and minor leaguer Eduardo Morlan.

One season doesn't make a trend, but you will have to take Young's word that he always has been a slow starter.

"Yeah, I have been since high school," he said. "The first part of the season I'm just a spectator. Then I start playing as the season goes on."

Young frequently takes early batting practice, which is a good habit to have. When asked how he's feeling at the plate these days, he chuckled before saying, "I always feel good at the plate."

He has chased bad pitches at times. At others, he has just missed squaring up on a fat pitch over the plate.

"I like his swing, and I know he's got one of the quickest swings through the zone that you will ever see," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Eventually, a quick bat through the zone is going to catch up to the ball.

"I think he's trying to force things. I think he's trying to push the ball the other way a little too much. He's going to learn, and I think once the weather gets warmer he'll get warmer."

In addition to the average (now at .250), Young hasn't yet hit a home run with the Twins. He just missed one on April 15 in Detroit that became a triple instead. A few more inches and ESPN wouldn't be laughing at the Twins for beginning Tuesday with as many homers (nine) as the Phillies' Chase Utley.

There will be something wrong in August if Young is still homerless -- and if Utley is still tied with the Twins. Both trends aren't expected to happen, and Young behaves as if he knows he is going to hit.

"He's a young man. He's a young hitter," Gardenhire said. "It seems like, the way he handles himself, he's a lot older than he is."