SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.–Every spring, Curt Young is faced with a familiar challenge.
Turn prospects into professionals, and turn throwers into thinkers. The youthful arms Young works with ooze with potential, but his task is turning that promise into a finished product.
Huston Street and Andrew Bailey both won Rookie of the Year Awards under his watch, and he counts Sean Doolittle and Sonny Gray among his many protégés. Barry Zito, Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson all earned All-Star nods with Young leading their meetings.
After spending more than a decade molding the next generation of A’s pitchers in Oakland, the first-year Giants’ pitching coach inherits a staff led by Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija, a trio that’s combined for nearly 4,700 innings and owns 29 seasons of Major League experience.