McGough Becomes First Duck Of New Era To Reach The Show
By Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
The Oregon baseball team enjoyed a significant milestone Wednesday night, when the Miami Marlins promoted pitcher Scott McGough from Triple-A.
McGough, who appeared in 74 games for the Ducks between 2009-11, became the first player from the program to reach the big leagues since its reboot in 2009. A 25-year-old right-hander from Pittsburgh, McGough was with the New Orleans Zephyrs, his third minor-league stop during a season in which he’s accumulated an ERA of just 1.95 in 23 games.
The Zephyrs were in Sacramento on Wednesday. Because he’d only been there about a month, McGough wasn’t anticipating a promotion; that changed after he was called into the manager’s office.
“When he said, ‘Shut the door,’ I kind of had an idea then and got a smile on my face,” McGough said. “It was pretty cool.”
McGough was one of two UO alums pitching in Triple-A, along with left-hander Zack Thornton for Las Vegas of the New York Mets’ organization. Another former teammate, and McGough’s offseason roommate, Tyler Anderson, is on the Triple-A roster of the Colorado Rockies, though he’s currently recovering from injury.
Anderson had been on the fast-track to the big leagues until this season, opening the door for McGough to break through on behalf of head coach George Horton’s program at Oregon.
“The coaches there always did an excellent job of keeping it competitive on the team,” said McGough, a fifth-round MLB draft pick in 2011 with a 2.99 career ERA in the minor leagues. “So we always wanted to compete, even though we loved each other and played for each other. There was a competitive edge, so in the back of my mind, I wanted to get there first before Tyler and those guys. ...
“I honestly thought it was going to be him, so we didn’t talk much about it. He’s done so well in his career so far. I kind of got lucky with the timing, but he won’t be far behind, and there will be many more to come.”
Among the former Ducks who have reached Double-A this season are shortstop KC Serna, infielder Ryon Healy and pitchers Madison Boer and Jake Reed, with whom McGough had dinner a few weeks ago when all three were in Double-A.
On Thursday, McGough called Horton to share the news, and also exchanged messages with former UO athletic director Pat Kilkenny, still a prominent supporter of the program.
“That’s just an honor in itself, because I’ve looked up to him ever since freshman year when he first introduced himself to the team,” McGough said. “It was really cool to thank those guys and say, ‘It’s because of you I made it.’”
McGough’s first call, of course, was to his parents, who happened to be travelling to Sacramento to see him pitch with the Zephyrs. Thus, later Wednesday he got a chance to celebrate with them personally, before making the trip to Miami in time for the Marlins’ game Thursday against Philadelphia.
“You dream about this your whole life, and surprisingly I didn’t react the way I thought I was going to,” McGough said. “You’re kind of in shock. You don’t realize it at first, can’t even get words out.
“I tried to keep it low-key in the locker room, so I went outside to call my parents. It was pretty cool I was able to experience it with them, once I got back to the hotel. It was a pretty cool feeling to call them and tell them my dream has come true.”
