Former major league infielder Sean Burroughs died of fentanyl intoxication, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner.
The office, in a report filed on its website, also declared the death accidental.
Burroughs was 43 when he died May 9 in the parking lot of a youth baseball field in Long Beach, Calif., where he had taken his son.
The son of 1974 American League MVP Jeff Burroughs, the third baseman was selected with the No. 9 overall pick by the San Diego Padres in 1998. He made his major league debut in April 2002, recorded the first walk-off hit for the Padres in Petco Park history in 2004 and was out of baseball in 2007 before returning to play from 2011-12.
Growing up in Long Beach, Burroughs won consecutive Little League World Series championships in 1992 and ’93, throwing back-to-back no-hitters. He then went on to star at Long Beach Wilson High. He also was a 2000 Olympic gold medalist and a first-round pick in the MLB draft.
He admitted in an interview with ESPN in June 2011 that he left the game because he didn’t have the passion to play anymore and in subsequent years, he was a substance abuser. After deciding he needed a life change, he moved back into his childhood home, under the house rules, and worked himself back into baseball shape to make an MLB comeback that lasted 88 games.
Burroughs played for the Padres from 2002-05 and was traded to Tampa Bay in late 2005. The Rays released him the following August. After a brief stint in the Seattle Mariners organization, he walked away.
He signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2011 and ended his MLB career in 2012 after 10 games with the Minnesota Twins.
In his major league career, Burroughs appeared in 528 games, batted .278, hit 12 home runs and drove in 143.
–Field Level Media