Sean Burroughs, a former first-round MLB draft pick and two-time Little League World Series champion with Long Beach (Calif.), died while coaching his son’s Little League game on Thursday, Little League International announced Friday. He was 43.
A cause of death was not immediately made available.
“I have had the privilege of coaching with Sean for the past two years and he always came with a fun and friendly attitude the kids were drawn to, a wealth of baseball knowledge that could get any kid out of a batting rut and humility worth emulating,” Long Beach Little League president Doug Wittman said in a statement. “To say this is a huge loss is an understatement.”
Sean Burroughs, the son of 1974 AL MVP Jeff Burroughs, first starred on the Little League World Series stage. He helped Long Beach become the first U.S. league to win consecutive LLWS titles in 1992 and 1993. During Long Beach’s 1993 title run, Burroughs made LLWS history as the first American player to throw back-to-back no-hitters, and he posted a .600 batting average at the plate as well.
The San Diego Padres selected Burroughs out of Woodrow Wilson High School (Long Beach, Calif.) with the ninth overall pick in the 1998 MLB Draft. The third baseman first reached the bigs in 2002, when he hit a walk-off single in the first regular-season game ever played at San Diego’s Petco Park. Burroughs would spend four seasons with the Padres, hitting .282/.340/.360 over 432 games.
“We mourn the passing of former Padres third baseman Sean Burroughs,” the Padres said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family during this very difficult time.”
Burroughs went on to play seven total seasons in the majors, suiting up for the Padres (2002-05), Tampa Bay Rays (2006), Arizona Diamondbacks (2011) and Minnesota Twins (2012). Burroughs, who also spent time in the Seattle Mariners (2007) and Los Angeles Dodgers (2013) organizations, was out of baseball for four years while struggling with substance abuse issues that “took away from my aspirations and my dreams,” he told the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 2012.
He made 528 MLB appearances, hitting .278/.335/.355 with 12 home runs and 143 RBIs. Burroughs was also part of Team USA‘s gold medal-winning squad in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
“We at USA Baseball are heartbroken to hear of the tragic passing of Sean,” USA Baseball executive director/CEO Paul Seiler said in a statement. “Sean was a part of one of our most beloved teams, and he represented our country on and off the field in a first-class manner. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Burroughs family during this time.”
