Job: Manager

Selwyn Young

SELWYN YOUNG

Young hails from Los Angeles, California. He is a graduate of Belmont High School, where he was a three-sport varsity letterman. He was named “All City” shortstop his senior season as well as being an All-League defensive back in football. School honors included being named Belmont’s “Athlete of the Year” in 1976. After high school, Young played for the 1977 Los Angeles City College Cubs at shortstop. A 30-game hitting streak that year helped him earn a full scholarship to Pepperdine University in Malibu. In 1980, he set the single season record for stolen base percentage at .952 with 20 out of 21 stolen bases. That team was inducted into Pepperdine’s prestigious Hall of Fame in 1999. The 1979 Waves were the first Pepperdine team to win a berth in the NCAA College World Series.

Young played professional baseball 10 years beginning with the Oakland A’s organization in 1981, where he was a part of three consecutive Minor League Championships. He also played with the Baltimore Orioles, the Mexican Major Leagues, and several independent leagues before hanging up his glove in 1995 while under a MLB contract with the Seattle Mariners. He was also a part-time scout for the Cincinnati Reds, and the Seattle Mariners.

Young coached professionally, managing the Yuma Desert Dawgs in the Golden State Professional Baseball League. He served as the hitting coach for the Seattle Mariners Area Code team for three seasons, and managed the Mariner Scout team for five seasons. He also coached the local RBI Scout Team for two seasons. For six years he served as the hitting and base running coach for the Santa Barbara Foresters’ summer team. Under Young’s guidance, the Foresters set the National stolen base record with 257 steals in 2001. In 2003, the Foresters won the National Baseball Congress, American National Championship, held in Wichita, Kansas.

Young has over 15 years of collegiate coaching  at Compton College, Antelope Valley College, Santa Barbara City College, Oxnard College, Ventura College, and Los Angeles City College.

Young is a member of the American Baseball Coaches Association, the California Community College Coaches Association, the Southern California Professional Baseball Scouts Association, and a Lifetime Member of the Professional Baseball Players of America. Young has been named Chairman of the East for the SIAC conference in baseball and represents the SIAC on the NCAA South Region baseball committee.

Baseball is a family affair for Young. His father, Fate Young, was a professional baseball scout for over 35 years. His younger brother, Delwyn, was selected in the second round by the Cincinnati Reds and played for 13 seasons. His nephew, Delwyn Jr., has been in professional baseball eight years and is currently with the Philadelphia Phillies organization.

Young has 10 former players playing at the Major League level today. Including pitcher Matt Garza (Cubs), Dana Eveland (Dodgers), Coco Crisp (A’s), Jason Kubel (Twins), Kevin Frandsen (Phillies), Kevin Millar, Brett Hayes (Marlins), Delwyn Young (Phillies),Chris Petite (Angels) and former Red Sox James Lofton and former MLB World Series champ with the Red Sox and current host of MLB’s Intentional Talk.

Young also represented former A’s first round pick Richie Robnett in the 2005 MLB Annual June Draft and negotiated a multi-million dollar contract for Robnett under Young’s former Sports Agency, Sly Sports Management.

Ernesto Punales

ERNESTO PUNALES

Ernesto Isidro Punales Vera Born in Santa Clara, Villa Clara, Cuba, February 4,1993 Born in the a Baseball family, he was breathing and eating Baseball since he was born, father played in Cuba,  he comes from a family of professional baseball players background in Cuba. He began his baseball career at the age of 4. He was able to get into his hometown baseball school, where he was teammates with a couple of major leaguers from his hometown, Jose Fernandez Miami Marlins also a great friend, Aleymis Diaz  infielder from the blue jays. He was also fortune to make the Cuban national team at the age of 9,10,11. Where he also had other teammates such as the youngest out of the Gourriel brothers now also a blue jays infielder and many more. He came over to the United States at the age of 14… He enrolled at Champagnat Catholic School in Hialeah Florida, the rivals of the Brito Miami, so he got to face players such as Manny Machado for a lot of years. After graduating he attended Western Nebraska Community College where he played 2 years as a Shortstop and Pitcher. Then after that he decided to become a professional player at the age of 19. His first pro experience was with the Baltimore Orioles, where he got a invite to extended spring training out of the Extreme line Baseball Academy invited by owner and director of international baseball scouting Fred Ferreira. After being released, he decided to give independent Baseball a chance at the age of 20 and has been apart of the independent circuit for the past 5 years as a pitcher.   He retired from playing at an early age to become a professional baseball manager in the Empire League to begin his career as a professional coach, mentor and manager.