Minor league marketers have become pretty smart about hyping their blue chip players. So adept, in fact, that it is hard to tell the prospects from the suspects. When the subject turns to Delmon Young, however, the high-volume chatter turns to reverential whispers. The Devil Rays’ phenom is that good. He has the mind, body, skills and baseball pedigree to dominate at age 20, even though he has not taken a single swing in the majors. Delmon is Manny Ramirez with a glove, Albert Belle without the attitude, Vladimir Guerrero with an eye for the strike zone. The minor leagues may be littered with can’t-miss prospects, but no player has trashed enemy pitching like Delmon has. This is his story…

GROWING UP

Delmon Damarcus Young was born on September 14, 1985 in Camarillo, California to Vernell and Larry Young. He was the middle child in a highly coordinated, high-achieving family. Larry piloted an F-14 in the Navy, and older brother Dmitri was a baseball star. Their younger sister, DeAnn, could hit the ball a mile, too.

Dmitri had used sports as a way to make friends. The Youngs moved to a new base every couple of years while he was growing up. Larry had just retired when his youngest son came along, and eventually went to work as an airline pilot. This allowed Delmon to grow up in one place, Camarillo, a quiet town in southern California.

Larry explained to his sons that talent would only take them so far in a game like baseball—the real edge they had on the competition would be mental. He compared playing ball to landing jets on aircraft carriers—the more they concentrated, the better off they would be.

Delmon’s baseball education started at eight months—the first time he attended one of Dmitri’s games. As soon as he could walk, he would find a stick and swing it like his big brother. Delmon’s father would pitch him pebbles, and remembers the toddler hit them more often than not.

At age three, Delmon was hitting grounders and flies to his 15-year-old brother. Dmitri repaid his hard work by teaching him about the nuances of the game—a process that continued when he was called up to the major leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1996. Delmon was 10 when his big brother—a first-round draft choice in 1991—made it to the show. In subsequent seasons, he visited the clubhouses of the Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers.

Whereas Dmitri had been a reluctant student of the game, Delmon was eminently coachable. When he decided to make baseball his full-time sport at age 13, he soaked up knowledge wherever it came from. This instantly set him apart from other baseball phenoms, who tended to cruise through practices. If Delmon detected a weakness in his game, he would work at it until it became a strength.

Not surprisingly, Delmon usually played above his age group. During the summer of 1999, he was the only player on his American Legion team without high school experience. He started in centerfield and led the team in hits. It was the first time he had ever competed on a regulation-size diamond. Prior to that, he had been making a mockery of Pony League and 13-and-under AAU ball. The idea for Delmon to join a Legion club was cooked up by Scott Cline, the coach at Adolfo Camarillo High School. He hooked the Youngs up with Scott Frash, who managed the Legion club.

That same summer, shortly before his 14th birthday, Delmon was invited to participate in the prestigious Area Code Games, which brings together Southern California’s best juniors and seniors in a week-long tournament. Delmon was the first incoming freshman ever to participate in the tournament.

Delmon made the Camarillo High varsity as a freshman and began what was to be one of California’s most heralded schoolboy careers. Just before Delmon's first season started, Dmitri mailed him a baseball card that had his high school stats on the back—along with a note that read “Beat these numbers.” Delmon developed into the team’s best player, batting .460 as a freshman.

Delmon was so good at 14 that he was invited to play on the national 16-and-under team. He spent the summer of 2000 playing top-flight international competition, batting.308 on a club that won two games and the gold medal during the Pan American Youth Baseball Championships in Mexico. That winter, he traveled to Australia as part of a youth All-Star team.

By Delmon’s sophomore year, he stood 6-1 and weighed 180-pound He upped his average to .468 that season, and corrected an upper cut in his swing. Scouts everywhere began to take notice of the strapping young power hitter.

The following spring, in 2002, Delmon distinguished himself as one of the best players in the nation. He batted .542 for the Scorpions, and added 17 homers and 56 RBIs. Delmon shattered the school mark for long balls, which was previously shared by Joe Borchard and Coach Cline. Borchard, who had earned a scholarship to Stanford, later made the major leagues.

At season’s end, Delmon and Florida star Lastings Milledge were the only juniors named First-Team High School All-Americans. Camarillo went 30-4, and was ranked15th in the country. After his sensational junior campaign, Delmon suited up for Team USA. Playing alongside Lastings Milledge, he hit .474 and topped the squad with 16 homers and 49 RBIs. He also pitched, showing off his 95-mph heater in five relief appearances. The Americans posted a 25-4 record under Edgar Soto, and captured a bronze medal in the World Junior Championships. Delmon hit over .500 in the tournament and pounded nine homers in five games.

Delmon did nothing to diminish his rep as a senior in 2003. A sprained ankle suffered in a basketball game kept him out for two weeks, and a sore shoulder limited his time on the mound, but he had a great year in the field and at the plate. Delmon played 22 games and batted .523 for Camarillo. His numbers would have been even better if it weren't 26 intentional walks. Once again, he was named a First-Team All-American. When he was handed his diploma, he stood 6-3 and tipped the scales at 205 pounds.

As the June draft neared, it became clear that Delmon would be one of the first two players picked. Two-time NCAA batting champ Rickie Weeks of Southern University was being considered strongly by the Devil Rays, who owned the first pick. Ryan Harvey, a Florida high-schooler, was also a possibility. Delmon went to Miller Park to work out for the Milwaukee Brewers, who owned the second pick. During his batting session, he lined a pitch over the centerfield scoreboard 500 feet from home plate.

The D-Rays started with Delmon at the top of their list, and could not find anyone to knock him off. The night before the draft, GM Chuck Lamar finalized his choice. He contacted Larry Young with the good news, but Delmon’s dad decided not to breath word to Delmon. He wanted his son to have the fun of hearing his name called first. Another surprise was the arrival of Dmitri, who was in San Diego with the Tigers. He rolled up to the house in a limo in time to hear his little brother’s name called on the live-via-internet feed. When Dmitri was being drafted 12 years earlier, Delmon was out in the yard hitting balls of a tee—oblivious to his brother’s big moment.

After a summer of negotiating—during which he was the last first-rounder to sign—Delmon finally got a deal done with Tampa Bay in September. He received a $5.8 million signing bonus and was added to the team's 40-man roster. Since Delmon had been offered a scholarship at Arizona, he had the D-Rays over the proverbial barrel.

Delmon headed for the Arizona Fall League, where he joined fellow Tampa Bay studs Dewon Brazelton and BJ Upton—and future major leaguers Brad Hawpe, Kelly Johnson, Jason DuBois and Brendan Harris—on the Mesa Solar Sox. Delmon outhit everyone in the league at a .417 clip.

The following spring, Delmon worked out at Tampa Bay's major league camp. He saw action in some B games before being optioned to the minors. One of those games was against the Tigers. It marked the first time Dmitri and Delmon had faced each other on a baseball diamond.

Delmon began his first pro campaign with the Charleston River Dogs of the Class-A South Atlantic League. One of the first adjustments he had to make was on the basepaths. Coach Jimmy Hoff told Delmon that the organization wanted him to attempt at least 25 steals during the season. He had been discouraged from swiping bases most of his life and really had no technique except for his sheer speed. But his ability to read pitchers enabled him to become a competent thied, as he stole21 bags in 27 attempts.

Delmon’s other numbers were even more impressive. After a sluggish start, he batted .368 with 16 homers in the second half. For the year he ended with a .322 average, 25 homers and a league-best 116 RBIs. He also led the SAL with 165 hits. Many first-year players fade as the schedule grinds on, but Delmon got stronger. Manager Steve Livesey was just amazed. The River Dogs advanced to the playoffs, but lost to the Hickory Crawdads in the first round. Delmon was named the league’s most outstanding prospect.

During spring training in 2005, Delmon sought out Carl Crawford. He asked for pointers on base stealing and learned some valuable insights from the American League’s reigning stolen base champ. Each pitcher, he said, does something subtle that tells you whether he’s going to the plate or to first. Study them, find out what that little thing is, and you'll own them.

When Delmon reported to the Class-AA Montgomery Biscuits of the Southern League, manager Charlie Montoyo informed him he would be green-lighted all season long. Lighter and stronger after a winter of working out, he found he was getting much better jumps on the basepaths and tracking down flyballs in the outfield.

Delmon was leading the Southern League in everything through June, batting .336 with 20 homers and 71 RBIs. He was promoted to the Class-AAA Durham Bulls in July, where he joined the team’s other great prospect, shortstop BJ Upton. Despite playing just 84 games in the SL, he was later voted the circuit’s MVP.

Delmon adjusted well to the new level of pitching in the International League, hitting .286 with six homers and 28 RBIs. Durham manager Bill Evers was amazed at how quickly Delmon adjusted to hurlers who were mostly five years older or more. Evers claimed he would have been the league’s top player had he been there from the start. Overall, his numbers for ’05 were .315 with 26 homers, 99 RBIs, 32 steals and a .526 slugging average.

Delmon was expecting a call-up in September, but the team announced that his season was over. It was clearly a money-saving maneuver to delay his future arbitration by a year. At first Delmon said it didn't bother him, but as he sat around with no baseball to occupy his time he began to fume and later told reporters the Devil Rays were being cheap. His agent, Arn Tellem, and mother backed him up, pointing out that while dozens of minor leaguers were promoted by contending teams, the Minor League Player of the Year was not.

Delmon projects as an All-Star caliber rightfielder, with 40-homer power, decent speed, a good glove and a plus arm. Comparisons to Vladimir Guerrero at the same age are fair, though Delmon has much better plate discipline and is very advanced from an analytical standpoint.

Despite his youth, Delmon approaches the game with great maturity. He never gets too high with his successes, and is anxious to learn from his mistakes. After striking out, he can often be seen at the lip of the dugout, watching how the pitcher works the next batter. Most kids would be fuming and slamming their bats back in the rack.

Delmon has a photographic memory when it comes to pitchers. He can recall the pitch sequence from nearly every one of his at-bats, going back to his high school days.

Delmon is just an average rightfielder at this point. He moves well in the outfield but does not always take the best route to the ball. He can also be a little over-aggressive—understandable for a kid who just turned 20. Both of these defensive deficiencies will improve with experience. His arm has been rated a 70 on the 20-to-80 scale, and should develop as his upper body grows.