Young was a pitcher on his high school baseball team and led the squad to a CIF championship. He went to Ole Miss on a baseball scholarship in 1999 after turning down pre-draft selection by both Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Minnesota Twins. In his one-season on the Rebel baseball team in 2000, he earned a varsity letter and posted two wins and two saves. He then lettered for one season at Irvine Valley before moving to Fresno. However, his pursuit of a professional baseball career was cut short by an elbow injury while at Fresno in 2003.
