There aren't many people in baseball who know Elvis Andrus better than Michael Young.
Young, who is the Rangers' all-time leader in several offensive categories and at one time changed positions to accomodate the promotion of a huge prospect named Elvis Andrus, had some opinions on Andrus and how he will bounce back from an unceremonious ending to the Rangers' 2015 season.
Of course you'll remember, Andrus had multiple errors in the seventh inning of the Rangers' decisive Game 5 loss in Toronto, at the center of a meltdown of epic proportions that gave the Blue Jays a lead they wouldn't relinquish.
Young said he doesn't expect the gaffe to affect Andrus moving forward into 2016.
"I think Elvis is fine," Young told Evan Grant and Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News in a podcast. "I think obviously the way the season ended was tough, right? But I love the kid, man. I mean, didn't hide behind everything for those of you who were at that game, (he) stood in front of his locker, tears coming from his eyes, truly disappointed.
"He said, 'I messed up.' One thing I don't buy is, you know, is this going to be the lasting image of his career, is this going to affect him? No. I would say that's a huge no. I think he was very disappointed with the way it ended. Having said all that, I mean, you have two choices: you sit there and dwell on it or you move forward to the next challenge and He's got one in front of him now. He's on a team that won the division last year and is very much favored to do it again. He's fine. We're not worried about him one bit."
There you go, Young is fully confident Andrus will bounce back in 2016, and it's pretty hard to argue. Sure, the way he ended 2015 wasn't ideal, but to see that bad stretch just ending the career of a professional athlete seems pretty hard to get on board with.
