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Former Padres player and top pick Sean Burroughs dies at 43

San Diego Padres third baseman Sean Burroughs fires a throw to first from his knees but is unable to get Los Angeles Dodgers' D. J. Houlton at first during the third inning of a baseball game June 22, 2005, in San Diego. Burroughs, a two-time Little League World Series champion who won an Olympic gold medal and went on to a major league career that was interrupted by substance abuse, has died. He was 43. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s online records said Burroughs died Thursday, May 9, 2024, with the cause of death deferred.
Lenny Ignelzi
/
AP
San Diego Padres third baseman Sean Burroughs fires a throw to first from his knees but is unable to get Los Angeles Dodgers' D. J. Houlton at first during the third inning of a baseball game June 22, 2005, in San Diego. Burroughs, a two-time Little League World Series champion who won an Olympic gold medal and went on to a major league career that was interrupted by substance abuse, has died. He was 43. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s online records said Burroughs died Thursday, May 9, 2024, with the cause of death deferred.

Former San Diego Padres infielder Sean Burroughs — the team's first pick in the 1998 amateur draft, who went on to play four years for the team — has died at age 43, it was reported Friday.

Burroughs collapsed and died Thursday while coaching his son's Little League team, according Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Other details were not immediately available.

According to the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner, a person listed as Sean Burroughs, with the same date of birth as the former MLB player, died at 5:34 p.m. Thursday on the 4500 block of East 23rd Street in Long Beach. A cause of death was not immediately known.

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Burroughs first rose to stardom as a slugger and pitcher on a Long Beach team that advanced to the Little League World Series in 1992 and 1993. He continued to dominate at Long Beach Wilson High School, from which he was selected by the Padres with the ninth overall pick in 1998.

He made his MLB debut with the Padres in 2002, becoming a regular for the team in the 2003 season. After four seasons in San Diego, Burroughs spent one year with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and one year each with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Minnesota Twins. His last major-league game was in 2012.

In addition to his big league career, Burroughs was also a member of the 2000 USA Olympic team, which captured a Gold Medal in Sydney, Australia.