USA Baseball certainly didn’t have to scour the globe to find its Olympic closer. The notion doesn’t even make sense.
But that is what it did to locate Scott McGough. And the organization found McGough in a rather ironic location — Japan.
McGough, a Plum and Oregon alum who bounced around major league bullpens after his pro debut in 2015, was added Friday to the 24-man roster for the U.S. Olympic team which will compete for gold later this month in Tokyo.
McGough, 31, pitches for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball and leads the team with 15 saves in 34 2/3 innings. This is his third season with Tokyo.
He is 2-1 with a 1.82 ERA in 36 games with 50 strikeouts and 10 walks. Ten of his saves came in June — a team record.
USA will open the Olympic Games July 30 against Israel.
The team that will bring home Olympic gold #ForGlory??
See you in #Tokyo2020: https://t.co/L9ApiIgXxK pic.twitter.com/51LEnyte85
— USA Baseball (@USABaseball) July 2, 2021
Other team members include former home run derby champion Todd Frazier, Triple-A players Eddy Alvarez (Miami Marlins), Jamie Westbrook (Milwaukee Brewers), Eric Filia (Seattle Mariners), Patrick Kivlehan (San Diego Padres), Bubba Starling (Kansas City Royals), Jack Lopez (Boston Red Sox), Tim Federowicz (Los Angeles Dodgers), Shane Baz (Tampa Bay Rays), Brandon Dickson (St. Louis Cardinals), Anthony Gose (Cleveland Indians), Scott Kazmir (San Francisco Giants), David Robertson, Joe Ryan (Tampa Bay Rays), and Ryder Ryan (Texas Rangers), among others.
Frazier and Kazmir are former all-stars.
Mike Sciosia will manage the team.
McGough was with the Colorado Rockies when he was released in 2018. He was part of the trade that brought Hanley Ramirez to Miami in 2012.
He was drafted by the Pirates in the 46th round in 2008, but went back to Oregon. In ‘11, the Los Angeles Dodgers took him in the fifth round.
?️ 6/23 Yakult Scott McGough ?? 14th save
1IP 0R 0H 2K 0BB
#ScottMcGough https://t.co/774zsuP4sk— ⚾ Japanese Baseball ⚾ (@JapaneseBaseba4) June 24, 2021
? Scott McGough is getting solid closer#ScottMcGoughhttps://t.co/haBytHLUno
— ⚾ Japanese Baseball ⚾ (@JapaneseBaseba4) May 30, 2021
