Plum grad McGough works way back to MLB after finding his footing in Japan

What’s longer: 6,585 miles, or 2,749 days?

For Plum’s Scott McGough, it took (repeatedly) traveling the former to take a meandering route in figuratively navigating the latter.

A four-year trip to Japan ultimately led McGough back to the major leagues, a level he hadn’t pitched at since Sept. 20, 2015.

“A long, long time ago,” McGough said by phone last week.

Seven-and-a-half years later, McGough was back on a big-league mound Friday. At 33 and still technically a rookie, the right-hander made his debut for the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was his seventh MLB appearance, but being that the prior six games came during the 2015 season and McGough since had re-invented himself as a pitcher during four seasons with the Yakult Swallows, it had to feel like a whole new major-league debut for McGough.

“It’s a super-unique story but super cool,” said McGough, a 2008 graduate of Plum. “I just know to keep my head down. I just kept learning stuff and was trying to pick stuff up.

“I knew I wasn’t the best (major-league) pitcher and just tried to get better. That’s the thing I have always heard from some of the greats I have had the chance to talk to: Always learn. Always try to get better. And that’s what I have done and just tried to do.”

McGough certainly got better while pitching in Nippon Professional Baseball’s Central League. The development of an Asian-style forkball helped McGough prosper as the closer for the Swallows, and after winning 15 games and saving 80 while compiling 251 strikeouts in 236 innings over the past four seasons, McGough gained notice among MLB clubs.

A three-time NPB All-Star who helped lead Yakult to the Central League title the past two years, McGough signed a two-year contract with the Diamondbacks in December. A strong spring training (11 strikeouts and five hits allowed in 9 1/3 innings) earned him a high-leverage role in the Arizona bullpen, too, and McGough picked up his first MLB save during a 2-1 win Sunday at the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“Pitching four years in (Japan) really benefited in terms of developing the one particular pitch that makes him so attractive, which is a really-plus split-finger,” Diamondbacks pitching coach Brent Strom said. “Credit goes to the Japanese pitching coaches that kind of got him right with this thing, and I am really happy to see the progress that he’s made.

“I think (McGough) is going to do quite well. The novelty of him not having been seen (by MLB hitters) will benefit him, and he has a plus fastball, a really good split-finger fastball, so he’s going to be fine.”

Though McGough was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates coming out of high school, he declined to sign as a 46th-round pick and instead spent three years at Oregon. The Dodgers took him in the fifth round in 2011, and McGough was regarded highly enough that the next summer he was part of a trade package that netted the Dodgers three-time All-Star shortstop Hanley Ramirez.

But the April after his proverbial cup of coffee with the Marlins, McGough was designated for assignment in April 2016. Stints in the Baltimore Orioles and Colorado Rockies organizations followed until McGough decided to take his talents to Tokyo.

“I kind of set as my mindset, ‘I am gonna go over for a year, make some money, become a better pitcher and propel myself back to the big leagues,’ ” McGough said. “But after being over there for a couple months, my wife and I both, we loved it. My team was fantastic, awesome guys.”

So McGough re-upped with the Swallows. At times, especially at the height of the pandemic, it wasn’t easy — “My wife (Lauren) is a boss. She flew back and gave birth (to the couple’s daughter), handled all that stuff on her own” — but on whole the McGoughs fell in love with Japan.

“I kind of changed my tune and was like, ‘Hey, I don’t mind retiring here. Let’s play another five, seven years over here,’ ” McGough said.

Thank you to my Swallows community for an amazing four years. I could not have written a more unforgettable story… @swallowspr @sanspo_swallows @jingu_stadiumpr #マクガフ pic.twitter.com/GeI2lv4DIP

— Scott McGough (@Scooter_McGough) December 23, 2022

Ultimately, though, the chance to pursue a major-league dream was too difficult to pass up, particularly one with an ascending organization that plays in his adopted town (the McGoughs relocated to the Phoenix area).

“It was just kind of, ‘Let’s go do this. Let’s see what I got. … Let’s go have a chance to go back into MLB and see how much I’ve grown,’ ” McGough said.

As Strom alluded to, McGough has grown plenty over the course of his baseball journey. Enough that it will take more than a blown save (during his third outing Monday in San Diego) to get him too down.

This 33-year-old rookie from Plum has come too far.

“If you are persistent enough in life, I feel like stuff usually works out for you,” McGough said. “Just keep working hard. It’s paid off for me to be able to come back, but that’s only one step of it. I made it back, but you want to be successful. So now it’s a matter of going out there and executing and doing it, so only time will tell with that.”