Selah Standout Carter Young Joins Pippins

Vanderbilt freshman, 2019’s Class 2A player of the year in Washington state, to play for hometown team

YAKIMA, Wash. – The last time Carter Young played at Yakima County Stadium, he walked three times and came around to score twice to help Selah High School win the Washington Class 2A state championship on May 25, 2019.

Just over a year later, Young is slated to return, this time representing Vanderbilt University as part of the Yakima Valley Pippins’ 2020 roster.

“I’m super excited to bring Carter Young onto the Pippins,” Manager Kyle Krustangel said. “He’s an elite player, and will be among the high end in terms of caliber across the whole league this summer.”

Young made an immediate impact this year with the Commodores, starting in all 18 games as a freshman. The middle infielder hit .328 from the bottom of the order, helping his team with 12 RBI and scoring 10 runs himself.

“As a middle infielder, he’ll be a 1-2-3 hole hitter, and a switch-hitter. He can do a lot,” Krustangel said. “He was second on his team in hits and RBI, which as a freshman at Vanderbilt is pretty impressive.”

Young was slated to play in the Cape Cod League this summer. But the league announced recently it wouldn’t play this year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, providing an opening for the standout to play for the Pippins.

Young was named the Class 2A baseball player of the year by the Washington State Baseball Coaches Association following his championship season with Selah, as well as the CWAC co-MVP. This year, he was named the SEC’s No. 19 Impact Freshman by D1Baseball.

He will actually be the second 2019 Washington player of the year to play for the Pippins, following Henry Gargus, who played part of last season in Yakima and was the Class 4A player of the year in 2019. Gargus was a freshman at Stanford this spring.

The West Coast League announced Friday that the start of the 2020 season is being delayed until early July because of the pandemic and local and state restrictions. A new Pippins schedule for the summer will be released in the next several weeks.

By Chris Rosato Jr.

May 9, 2020