The Mets will play the crosstown rival Yankees this weekend at Yankee Stadium beginning tonight when Jacob deGrom takes the mound for the first of a three game set.
The Mets will find a familiar face in Yankees outfielder Chris Young, who was released by the team last August after hitting only .205 in 88 games. Young signed a one year deal with the Mets worth $7.25 million last season, but says he holds no ill will against the team that cut him.
However, Young tells reporters he still gets motivated to prove wrong those who doubted him after he was waived. (Brendan Kuty, NJ.com)
“Maybe a little bit,” said Young. “because you’ve had struggles and you want to show people you can still be capable of doing what you’ve done in the past.”
After the Mets released Young, the Yankees picked him from the scrap and signed him to a minor league deal. Young revived his career in the Bronx, hitting .282 with 3 homeruns and 10 RBI in 23 games last September.
The Yankees brought him back this season as a result and so far he’s been even better to start the year, hitting .368 with 4 homers and 9 RBI entering Thursday’s game vs the Tigers, much to the dismay of some Mets fans.
Young said he’s not doing anything different at the plate now from when he was in Queens.
He added that he also finds other motivations day to day other than those who doubted him.
“You’d like to have other things to motivate you than for it to take something like that,” said Young. “As a player, even when you’re playing well, you still have to find something to drive you. It’s more of a pride thing than anything.”
“When you’re a ball player, you want to represent yourself as well as possible. And that doesn’t change from day to day. It doesn’t matter if you’re an All Star every year or if you go through getting sent down or getting released. It’s always the same. you always want to just go out there and represent yourself the best way possible.”
“The past is the past,” added Young. “I always feel like that though.”
The Mets have also moved on with Michael Cuddyer firmly entrenched in left field and starting out with an MLB best 13-3 record.
Their should be no shortage of storylines during the Subway Series this weekend which should be eventful and fun given the Mets hot start and the Yankees playing better lately, winning 3 out of 4 against the Tigers. As for Chris Young it goes both ways, it could also motivate the Mets even more too tonight.
