Scott McGough
"Scott McGough took the flight almost no established big leaguer takes — east to west, out of MLB and into Japanese baseball — and came back with a World Series ring chase to show for it."
Instead of retiring when his path in the Marlins organization dried up, McGough boarded a plane to Tokyo in 2018 to pitch in Nippon Professional Baseball — a route that runs almost entirely in the opposite direction of the usual NPB-to-MLB pipeline.
McGough is a rare bridge figure between two baseball cultures at a moment when MLB rosters are increasingly shaped by players who've competed professionally in Japan, Korea, or Latin America — his bullpen experience abroad is directly relevant to how the Athletics build depth in 2026.
American coverage tends to file his Nippon Professional Baseball years as a footnote — 'he pitched overseas for a bit' — when in fact it was the longer, formative chapter of his career, spanning more full seasons than his original MLB stint before it.
By American bullpen standards, McGough is undersized — listed at 5-foot-11 in a role increasingly dominated by pitchers well over six feet — a detail that made his eventual trust in high-leverage NPB innings for the Swallows notable rather than assumed.
When McGough signed with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in 2018, he wasn't taking a step down — in NPB, a foreign reliever earning a trusted late-inning role is a position of real institutional trust, since teams carry only a handful of import roster spots and expect them to perform in a league where command and composure are prized over velocity alone.
Scott McGough is a right-handed reliever who debuted with the Miami Marlins in 2015, left affiliated American baseball to pitch five seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, then returned to MLB in 2023 and helped the Arizona Diamondbacks reach the World Series. He now pitches for the Athletics.
| Year | Team | G | W–L | ERA | IP | SO | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | — | 13 | 0–0 | 6.75 | 16.0 | 16 | 1.56 |
| 2025 | OAK | 6 | 0–0 | 7.00 | 9.0 | 11 | 1.44 |
| 2025 | ARI | 7 | 0–0 | 6.43 | 7.0 | 5 | 1.71 |
| Career | — | 108 | 3–10 | 5.94 | 125.2 | 131 | 1.48 |
Source: MLB Stats API · regular season
An Unlikely Flight Path
In 2018, Scott McGough did something few established major leaguers ever do: he left the American professional system to pitch in Nippon Professional Baseball. The traffic across the Pacific almost always runs the other way — from Japan to MLB, chasing bigger stages and bigger paychecks. McGough, a right-hander who had debuted with the Miami Marlins in August 2015 at twenty-five, went in reverse, signing with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows at an age when many relievers who lose their major-league footing simply retire. He is listed at 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds, on the smaller side for a modern reliever, in an era when bullpens are increasingly stocked with pitchers who tower over six feet.
Five Seasons in Central League Baseball
McGough spent roughly five seasons with the Swallows, establishing himself as a dependable arm in a bullpen during a period in which the club competed for Central League and Japan Series honors. Public reporting on his tenure describes him as a consistent late-inning option — the kind of role that, in NPB, is not handed lightly to a foreign player, since import roster spots are limited and teams expect immediate, reliable production from the players who fill them. His years in Japan were, by length alone, longer than his first stint in the majors.
American fans often read a player 'going to Japan' as a step down or a last resort. In practice, NPB teams carry only a small number of foreign-player roster spots, and those players are expected to perform immediately in high-leverage roles — command, composure, and consistency are valued as much as raw stuff. A trusted bullpen role with a club like the Tokyo Yakult Swallows reflects real institutional confidence, not a fallback.
Back Across the Pacific
McGough returned to MLB in 2023, signing with the Arizona Diamondbacks, and was part of the pitching staff during Arizona's postseason run that ended in a World Series appearance. It was an unusual full-circle path: an American reliever who had to prove himself again on both sides of the ocean, first earning a foothold in Japan and then re-earning one at home, in a Diamondbacks bullpen built around exactly the kind of experienced, well-traveled arms that a deep postseason run requires.
The Current Chapter
McGough now pitches for the Athletics, wearing No. 48. At this stage of his career, he represents a specific type of roster asset: a reliever who has pitched under pressure in two different baseball cultures, with a résumé that includes NPB pennant races and a World Series bullpen. What he does next with Oakland's — and soon Sacramento's — pitching staff will be a quieter story than his path getting here, but it's one built on a career that has already taken an unusual shape.
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Shop official MLB gear at MLBShop.comThis profile was written by AI (Claude Sonnet) using publicly available sources. Interpretations and cultural notes are AI-generated and may not reflect the views of the player, their team, or MLB. This page contains affiliate links.