Seth McClung

Michael Seth McClung

• Bats Both, Throws Right
• Height 6' 6", Weight 235 lb.
• High School Greenbrier East High School
• Debut March 31, 2003
• Final Game October 4, 2009
• Born February 7, 1981 in Lewisburg, WV USA

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Biographical Information

Seth McClung was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 5th round of the 1999 amateur draft. He was signed by scout Doug Witt and made his pro debut that summer.

McClung was traded by the Devil Rays to the Milwaukee Brewers at the end of July, 2007. The Devil Rays received Grant Balfour in return. McClung was assigned to the AAA Nashville Sounds although he finished the season by pitching 14 games with the Brewers. He opened the 2008 season with the big league club, as the Brewers' long reliever, but ended up being used as a swingman, making 12 starts in 37 appearances and going 6-6, 4.02 while pitching 105 1/3 innings. The Brewers reached the postseason for the first time since moving to the National League that year, in part due to some brilliant pitching on his part down the stretch, and he added two scoreless innings against the Philadelphia Phillies in his only appearance in the Division Series. He returned in 2009, but his numbers went down as he finished at 3-3, 4.94 in 41 games and 62 innings. His K/W ratio fell all the way to 40/39 as he was no longer able to maintain his walk rate at an acceptable level.

He became a free agent after the 2009 season, missed all of 2010 with an injury, and was with three organizations in 2011 and 2012, including a return stint with Milwaukee, but never made it back to the majors. In 2013, he pitched for two teams in the Mexican League and for the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions of the Chinese Professional Baseball League. The Pittsburgh Pirates signed him for 2014 and brought him to spring training as a non-roster invitee, but he failed to impress and was released in mid-March, bringing his career to an end.

He popped back in the news a decade later, in February of 2023, when his nephew, Mac McClung, a part-time player in the NBA who us tiny by league standards at 6'2", surprised everyone by winning the dunk contest at the All-Star Game in Salt Lake City, UT. As reporters scrambled to find information about the little-known player, they realized he had a famous uncle. Seth explained that his nephew had always been a gifted athlete, even turning heads when fielding grounders at age 7. Seth's brother Marcus, Mac's father, had played college football, and Seth himself was a pretty good high school basketball player, although he never got a chance to play in college after signing his first baseball contract coming out of high school. For his part, the former pitcher was now living in the Tampa, FL area and still involved in baseball as a youth coach.

Further Reading

• Adam McCalvy: "NBA Dunk champ has big fan in former pitcher … his uncle", mlb.com, February 19, 2023. [1]