Daniel McGrath

Daniel McGrath

• Bats Right, Throws Left
• Height 6' 3", Weight 228 lb.

• Born July 7, 1994 in Melbourne, Victoria Australia

BR register page

Biographical Information

Daniel McGrath peaked at AAA and has been on the Australian national team.

McGrath debuted in the 2010-2011 Australian Baseball League at age 16, allowing four runs in 9 1/3 IP and striking out 12. In 2011-2012, he fell to 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA for the Melbourne Aces, walking 11 in 10 2/3 IP. He was signed by Boston Red Sox scout Jon Deeble in February. He was 1-0 with a 3.24 ERA for Australia in the 2012 U-18 Baseball World Cup, beating Colombia and future major leaguer Nabil Crismatt. The next winter, he had a 0-1, 8.64 record in six outings for the Aces.

The southpaw made his US debut in 2013, pitching for the GCL Red Sox (0-1, 1.35 ERA, 8 H, 30 K in 20 IP) and the Lowell Spinners (3-3, 4.86). He was 6-6 with a 4.07 ERA for the '14 Greenville Drive. In 2015, he was with the GCL Red Sox (0 R in 6 IP) and the Salem Red Sox (4-6, 3.84). The next year, he had a 8-6, 4.11 record. He tied for 10th in the Carolina League in wins. Despite a rough 2016-2017 ABL campaign for Melbourne (his first winter in Australia in four years), he made Australia's designated pitcher pool on their 2017 World Baseball Classic roster; he was not activated.

In 2017, he fell to 4-9, 4.98 with four saves in a return engagement for Salem, his WHIP going from 1.19 to 1.78 and he wound up pitching regularly in relief instead of the rotation. He tied Jay Groome and Kevin McAvoy for third in the BoSox chain in losses and tied for 7th in the league in that category. He was sharper for Melbourne in 2017-2018 (2-0, 1.17). Still only 23 years old, he made it to the Portland Sea Dogs in 2018, going 3-3 with a save and a 3.63 ERA in 33 games (11 starts). He was 0-1 with two saves and five shutout innings for the 2018-2019 Aces.

The Melbourne native split 2019 between Portland (7-1, Sv, 1.68 in 27 G) and the Pawtucket Red Sox (6 R in 10 1/3 IP). He tied for 7th in the Red Sox chain in wins and tied Denyi Reyes for 7th with 116 K. He won the Eastern League ERA title by .87 ahead of #2 Zac Lowther. On April 25, he was part of a combined no-hitter against the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, relieving Kyle Hart with one out in the 7th and working 1 2/3 IP before Adam Lau finished it off.

The 2020 minor league season was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic. McGrath became a free agent at year's end; despite coming off an ERA title in AA while still being below the league average for age, he found no suitors from MLB teams. In the 2020-2021 ABL, he struggled for his hometown Aces (0-2, 6.43). The 2021-2022 ABL was canceled by COVID. He returned to action in 2022-2023, going 3-4 with five saves and a 4.56 ERA. He tied for 4th in losses and tied Connor Higgins and Todd Van Steensel for second in saves.

He then made Australia's roster for the 2023 World Baseball Classic. He wound up pitching in three of Australia's five games, one behind team leader Sam Holland. His six innings led the team, 1/3 ahead of Mitch Neunborn. While he had a 6.00 ERA, he got a win against Marek Minařík and the Czech national team.