Pippins Sign Pair of Two-Way Players
Saint Louis’ Scott Youngbrandt and future UCLA Bruin Josh Hahn join the roster
YAKIMA, Wash. – Two two-way players, Saint Louis University’s Scott Youngbrandt and UCLA signee Josh Hahn, are the newest additions to the Yakima Valley Pippins roster, head coach Marcus McKimmy announced Wednesday.
Hahn, a 6-foot-2, 195-pound left-handed pitcher and hitter, will attend UCLA next fall following the conclusion of his high school career at Huntington Beach (Calif.) High School. Playing for one of the top high school teams in southern California, Hahn was a second-team All-State selection as a two-way player his junior season. As a sophomore, in his first year on varsity, he was named the Sunset League Rookie of the Year.
Youngbrandt, a 6-foot, 185-pound freshman from Tinley Park, Illinois, has spent most of his freshman season for the Billikens as a hitter. Youngbrandt has played three different positions for Saint Louis this year, and has recently moved into the leadoff spot in the batting order.
“I have a teammate (at Saint Louis) who played in Victoria, and told me about the West Coast League,” Youngbrandt said. “He said one thing that will be a lot different will be the atmosphere, averaging 1,000 to 1,500 people a night.”
Youngbrandt attended Victor J. Andrew High School in the Chicago area, where he was twice named All-Conference. He was selected Conference Pitcher of the Year as a junior, as well as All-State. D1Baseball.com ranked him the fourth-best freshman in the Atlantic 10 Conference entering the season.
“Coming in as a freshman, you learn a ton of stuff from older players and coaches that you work on implementing into your game,” Youngbrandt noted. “I’ll be trying to implement those things I’ve learned, on both sides of the ball.”
By Miles Klotz
May 1, 2019