Wayne Ough

Wayne Daniel Ough

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 180 lb.

• School Trinidad State Junior College
• High School Merrimac State High School

• Born November 27, 1978 in Werribee, Victoria Australia

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Wayne Ough reached AA in the minors. He won a Silver Medal at the Olympics. He has played for over 20 years in Australia, the US, Canada, Czech Republic, Austria, Germany and Croatia.

Ough pitched for the Australian junior national team in 1996. He pitched for the Gold Coast Cougars in the 1996-1997 Australian Baseball League, going 1-0 with a 9.72 ERA in 8 games. He allowed 13 hits and 7 walks in only 8 1/3 IP. In 1997-1998, Ough gave up 9 hits (3 homers) and 8 runs in 4 innings for Gold Coast.

Wayne was picked by the New York Mets in the 15th round of the 2000 amateur draft. He made his professional debut in 2000 with the Kingsport Mets, going 3-2 with a save and a 3.56 ERA. Ough was 0-1 with a 6.48 ERA for the '01 Brooklyn Cyclones with 17 walks in 16 2/3 IP.

In 2002, the right-hander went 5-7 with 2 saves and a 3.61 ERA for the Capital City Bombers and 1-4 with a 4.64 ERA for the Cyclones; overall, he walked 62 in 110 1/3 IP, an improvement if still not good. Ough posted a 7-5, 2.86 record with a save for the 2003 St. Lucie Mets, walking only 37 in 103 2/3 IP while fanning 97. Had he qualified, he would have been 8th in the Florida State League in ERA.

Ough backslid in 2004 with St. Lucie (1-3, 8.82) and the Binghamton Mets (2-5, 6.63). He allowed 111 hits in 89 2/3 IP and walked 46 while striking out 61. He still made the Australian squad in the 2004 Olympics, tossing four shutout innings for the AROOs, including one against Cuba. Australia finished with a Silver Medal; Ough did not appear in the Gold Medal game loss to Cuba.

Ough made his first appearance in the Australian leagues in 7 years when he was with the Queensland Rams in the 2005 Claxton Shield. He was 1-1 in the event with 3 runs (all unearned) in 8 innings. Out of the Mets system, Ough signed with the Brockton Rox but had little success, with 28 hits, 10 walks and 10 runs in 17 2/3 IP; he got a save.

In the 2006 Claxton Shield, Ough was hammered for 14 hits and 7 runs in 9 innings. He was 1-2 with a 4.70 ERA for the 2006 Quebec Capitales to end his career in the Western Hemisphere.

Ough tossed two shutout innings in the 2007 Claxton Shield.

Ough pitched for Draci Brno in the 2009 Czech Extraliga, helping them to a pennant. He was 1-1 with two saves, allowing only 2 runs (1 earned) in 18 2/3 IP. He struck out 30 and held opponents to a .133 average. He outperformed all of his moundmates, including former major leaguer Greg McCarthy and Czech national team mainstays Jakub Toufar, Petr Minařík and Radek Procházka. He also hit .508/.532/.763 and just qualified for the batting title, beating out Pavel Budský by .028 and leading in slugging (.052 ahead of Martin Střítecký) while finishing second to Budský in OBP. In the playoffs, he had two saves in five shutout innings and hit .417/.481/.583 to win playoff MVP.

In the 2010 European Cup, he had a 3.68 ERA in three relief outings for Draci Brno; he also played DH, going 1 for 15 with a walk and hit-by-pitch. He hit .392/.434/.588 in the regular season, finishing 2nd in the Extraliga in total bases (57, 3 behind Martin Schneider), tied for 3rd in hits (38), 5th in slugging and RBI (25), 7th in average and 10th in steals (11, caught 2ce). He allowed only one run in 18 2/3 IP, posting an identical ERA to '09, going 1-0 with two saves. He again was superb in the playoffs as Draci Brno won its 16th title in a row, saving three games and allowing no runs in 6 1/3 IP while batting .353/.378/.618. He led the playoffs with 21 total bases (one ahead of Jan Drábek) and saves.

That winter, he was 1-0 for the Adelaide Bite in the 2010-2011 Australian Baseball League, allowing five runs in six innings despite striking out ten. He played for RiCo Highlanders in the Austrian Baseball League in 2011. He had a 2-2, 4.66 record and one save for Adelaide in the 2011-2012 ABL, striking out 23 but walking 16 in 19 1/3 innings.

In 2012, he was named manager for Technika Brno. He was 0-1 in the 2012 European Cup, allowing two unearned runs in five innings of work, taking the loss against CB Barcelona. He again had a rough European Cup at the plate with another 1-for-15 turn. He hit .445/.517/.689 with 29 RBI in 34 games and was 3-0 with a 2.95 ERA. He was 4th in runs (40, between fellow Aussie Matthew Lawman and Schneider), tied Jakub Malík and Aleš Navrátil for 7th in RBI, was 6th in OBP, ranked 6th in slugging (between Jiří Marek and Schneider), tied Tomáš Juněc and Tom Brice for 6th in home runs (6), was 5th with 83 total bases (between Matěj Hejma and Brice), was 4th with 53 hits and won his second batting title (beating out Malík by .002). He had a 2.08 postseason ERA and batted .313/.353/.313.

The Australian spent his second summer in Austria in 2013, with the Wiener Neustadt Diving Ducks. He then continued his European tour with the Solingen Alligators in Germany for part of 2014, hitting .286/.327/.347 and throwing seven shutout innings; he mostly played third base. In the 2014-2015 ABL, he was 3-0 with a 2.11 ERA for Canberra, whiffing 23 in 21 1/3 innings, continuing to pitch in Australia while mostly batting in Europe. The next summer, he was player-manager for Split Nada in Croatia.

He replaced Jadd Schmeltzer on Solingen's roster during the summer of 2016. He was 4-0 with a 1.70 ERA and went 2 for 9, with a homer. He was 5th in the Bundesliga-1 North in ERA, 4th in WHIP and 2nd in K:BB ratio behind MVP Maurice Wilhelm. He became Solingen's manager in 2017. He barely took the field that year, allowing one run in 13 innings (going 1-0) and going 1 for 4 at the plate. He allowed one unearned run and no earned runs in 16 IP in 2018, again rarely turning to himself as the pitching option.

In 2019, he saw his most time in years. The 40-year-old struck out 113 in 78 innings and had a 1.62 ERA. He fanned 19 in a 1-0 win over the rival Paderborn Untouchables. He was second to Matt Kemp in ERA, second to Shane Priest in Ks and tied for third in wins (one behind Daniel Thieben and Giovanni Tensen). He won Pitcher of the Year though he was amazingly four years younger than the South's Pitcher of the Year, Enorbel Márquez. He also won MVP, breaking Wilhelm's three-year run on that honor. Not bad for a guy who had barely pitched in the last few years.