For the third week in a row, a member of the Braves double-A affiliate Mississippi Braves has been named a player or pitcher of the week. Last week Todd Redmond was named pitcher of the week, and the week before Kris Medlen was named pitcher of the week. This week speedy outfielder Matt Young was named the Player of the Week and made a little history to boot:
A week that began with a drought ended with an entry in the Southern League record book for Young. The 25-year-old was hitless in his first 10 at-bats before connecting for a sixth-inning single on Thursday. That began a streak of 11 consecutive hits to break the previous record of 10, which was most recently accomplished in 1976.
Young went 4-for-4 in Friday's 7-4 victory at Birmingham and added two singles, two runs scored and a stolen base in a 3-2 triumph over the Barons on Saturday.
The native of Murphy, TX then collected hits in his first four at-bats on Sunday before a groundout in the eighth inning ended his string of reaching base in 16 straight plate appearances.
A starter in the 2008 Southern League All-Star Game, Young ranked second in the league in batting average (.500) and on-base percentage (.593) as the Braves went 5-1 during the week to build a four-game lead in the South Division.
There's a lot of unknown talent down in Mississippi. Some of it may not be your typical major league prospect type talent, but there's some real hard workers like Matt Young who might get a shot one day.