Q&A: How Young made himself into a burner on the bases

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ARLINGTON -- In late September 2022, Jacob Young proudly held a home-plate-shaped plaque as he stood among a group of prospects that included Cade Cavalli and James Wood inside the Nationals Park press conference room.

Young was being honored as the Nats' Minor League Baserunner of the Year. That season, his 52 stolen bases against only seven times caught stealing with Single-A Fredericksburg had turned heads within the organization.

The award ceremony was a preview of what was to come in the Major Leagues.

Just over a year-and-a-half later, Young is stealing bases with historic efficiency. He has begun his career with 25 stolen bases without being caught, from Aug. 29, 2023, to present. That success rate is so elite that it has tied the 24-year-old outfielder with Quintin Berry and Jacoby Ellsbury for fourth on the all-time list, dating back to 1951, when caught stealing started being tracked. Young trails only Tim Locastro (29), Tim Raines (27) and Mitchell Page (26).

The skills Young is showcasing in his first full big league season are years in the making. MLB.com chatted with Young about the development of his baserunning and his path to honing this craft.

MLB.com: How would you say you became good at running?
Young: I think, honestly, part of it is you're born with it. As a little kid, I was always fast. But as I got older, I knew it was something that could kind of be the difference for me. I had a speed coach, [Olympic trial qualifier Almon Gunter]. I worked with him since I think I was in middle school all the way until college and pro ball. I still go see him all the time. He’s a motivational speaker, so I go see him just to kind of talk to him. We do some speed stuff, but I normally train at my normal facility now. He really helped me with form and learning how to stay fast and get faster.

MLB.com: How did you end up with a speed coach?
Young: A lot of it came out of luck that he's in our area in Jacksonville. At that point, I played a bunch of sports -- I played football, basketball, baseball. So it wasn't really a baseball thing, it was just trying to become a better athlete. A lot of soccer players [train] with him, and so I kind of heard from a couple of them and we went as a group a few times. Then a group of six of us went for five or six straight years.

MLB.com: What did your coach instill in you?
Young: I think a lot of it has to do with form to begin with: make sure your form is down, tight elbows. A lot of your speed really comes from your upper body, not your lower body. How fast you can pump your arms is how fast your legs are going to move. So a lot of things like that. He really taught me how to train to become fast. His thing is, if you want to be fast, you have to run fast. We just ran full speed a lot, long distances, we tried to learn that type of thing.

MLB.com: What is your favorite running drill?
Young: That's a tough one. We would always end the session with a 100-yard sprint. It was on a football field, so goalpost to goalpost. Just letting it eat and see how fast you can get going.

MLB.com: Whose speed did you like to watch growing up, from any sport?
Young: As a little kid, definitely David Eckstein. We were Angels fans. Mike Trout as I got older, for sure. Trea Turner, of course, on the Nats. Then in other sports, I love football a lot. The quick, speedy guys: at Florida, Percy Harvin was one of those guys as a kid. Guys like that you see are fast, and I thought it was exciting and I wanted to be like them.

MLB.com: You are so chill but so fast and intense on the basepaths. How would you describe that shift in personality
Young: I think on the baseball field, I feel like I'm a different person -- mentally, at least. I'm a very friendly person in general. Even on the field, I’m very talkative to the guys, I’m never really mean to anyone. But I think it’s just adrenaline, and when I get into game mode, it pops into me, "It’s time to go" type of thing. I think it’s something that kind of turns off and on a lot during the game. In the dugout, it's normal, nothing crazy. And then you get on the field, it’s kind of just like, "Time to go."