For some families baseball seems to run in their blood.
For BYU baseball player Sean McNaughton his blood is mixed with BYU baseball.
The dreams of the 5-foot-9 outfielder playing in a BYU uniform developed as a child when he sat in the stands and watching his older brother Troy McNaughton play for the Cougars.
In 2008 the senior from Washington, led the Cougars batting .347 with 14 home runs, 53 RBI, 23 doubles and 92 hits. Despite his standout season Sean hopes that 2009 will yield a better season than before.
His determination and love for baseball came through his family. As the youngest of five children Sean spent a great deal of his adolescence in Tacoma, Wash., emulating his four older siblings.
“I had a lot of role models to as an example,” Sean said. “I really wanted to be just like my two older brothers.”
All the McNaughton children served as examples for their youngest brother that went further than a Cougars’ uniform, an example of how to live life and their standards outside of baseball.
“Sean had really good brothers,” Sean’s mother Beth McNaughton
said. “Because of the age difference, anything the older brothers did he really looked up to.”
So the young Sean grew up watching Troy play baseball in high school and at BYU before Troy moved on to play professionally with the St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies Minor League systems.
“I still remember going to his tournaments and baseball games and the only time I was away from him was when Troy was on a mission,” Sean said. “I went to his Minor League games all five years he played. He is a big part of my life.”
Sean went from watching Troy play to developing as an athlete himself, but it was not until high school that Sean realized he had a future in baseball. He was named Gatorade Player of the Year and was offered scholarships from other universities, but decided to accept a scholarship to play at BYU.
“I really wanted to go where people had the same values as me and I really wanted to be in a situation where I could prepare myself for a mission,” Sean said.
The unsuspecting freshman came to BYU with a determined focus on working hard and showing the BYU coaching staff what he was capable of accomplishing.
His hard work paid off when it combined with an open spot at second base. Sean earned himself a starting position and he made significant contributions
offensively.
After batting .327, with a .629 slugging percentage and 13 home runs, Sean was selected to the Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America team by Collegiate Baseball Magazine.
After his freshman season Sean took a break to serve a two-year mission in Washington D.C. for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For Sean, putting his faith first always meant that athletics would take a back seat, a lesson learned through his brothers’ examples and through his parents.
“Knowing my brothers both served missions and Troy still played professional baseball, I thought I could still go on a mission and fulfill my baseball dreams,” Sean said.
Sean did not miss a beat coming back to BYU two years later as he worked to achieve his baseball dream.
“There is always a little bit of a drop off when guys return from missions and Sean was able to shorten that,” BYU baseball head coach Vance Law said. “He had a great offensive year and did a good job adjusting to left field.”
With lessons learned from his mission Sean expected to top his freshman year in his returning season.
“I’m the kind of person who sets my standard high, and I didn’t think there was a reason that I couldn’t come back and start or have an even better year,” Sean said. “I kept the standard high and I worked hard for that.”
Achieving an even better year than his first would seem impossible for some, but Sean returned right back to his lead-off position, and developed into the role of a power hitter.
“He is a power run producer with a short compact swing,” Law said. “He has really good speed and tremendous power at the plate.”
His efforts were noticed among Mountain West Conference coaches, region coaches and by professional scouts. Sean was named Second Team Midwest All-Region, First Team All-MWC and Academic All-MWC.
The culmination of an already great season came when Sean got a taste of completing his baseball dream. The Chicago Cubs drafted Sean in the 38th round of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft, but the slugger decided to return to BYU baseball for at least another season.
“I always knew getting drafted would come, it was just a matter of when,” Sean said. “Now that it has come I set my standard even higher, hopefully I will go in a better round and I will improve in all aspects. It was a great opportunity to get drafted and not a lot of people can say that.”
With his junior season in sight, he has already looking to improve the team as a whole as they compete in theConference.
“I feel like this year we fit together as a team,” He said. “We all have the same goals and the same work effort, so I think this year it is going to be more of a team effort and trying to fight together. I really want to win a MWC Championship and make it to a NCAA Regional, the individual aspects will come.”
As Sean continues to suit up each game in his Cougar uniform the roles seem to have switched as the oldest brother sits in the stands and watches his youngest brother compete.
“It has been a lot of fun to watch him,” Troy said of his little brother. “Sean has been a consistent player his whole time at BYU and he has it in him to go far. I tell him to enjoy every at-bat because eventually every baseball career ends.”
Troy, along with the rest of the McNaughton family, makes watching Sean and following his stats a big priority. The entire family, mom, dad, all four siblings and their spouses plus Sean’s 11 nieces and nephews converge from all over the country to make one big trip to see Sean play in San Diego.
Troy’s oldest son, eight-year-old Isaac, even enjoys watching his favorite uncle play baseball.
“It’s cool to watch him,” Isaac excitedly said. “I like it when he hits big home runs over the scoreboard.”
But Sean hopes that more people watch him as he tries to set an example for the younger players on the team.
“There were a lot of returned missionaries I looked up to when I was a freshman because they were older, had served missions and they were good examples,” Sean said. “I want to be a role model and have the younger players look to me and think I am living my life the right way.”
As Sean prepares for the 2009 season, which begins Feb. 20, he also has another goal in mind.
“I always say that I am going to break Troy’s records at BYU,” Sean said.
In 1998 Troy batted .427 with 22 home runs, landing in the top-10 for single-season home runs and 11th for batting average, on top of several single-game records.
“He knows my stats well,” Troy said. “I know he has it in him."