ATLANTA — For Reds second baseman Matt McLean, it will be hard to top the Mother’s Day he and his mother, Wendy, spent together in 2023.
“That was a really special day, and we both will remember it forever,” McLean said.
On Mother’s Day 2023, McLean learned he was being called up to the major leagues to join the Cincinnati Reds. At the time, he was playing for Triple-A Louisville. His first call was to his mother, who was at Arizona State University with her family to watch McLean’s brother, Nick, play.
“It was Mother’s Day, and it was really special,” McLean recalled. “She was at my brother’s game. They had just been swept, and everyone was hanging out by the team bus. I called her and she started screaming.”
McLean remembers clearly that his mother’s reaction caught the attention of those around them.
“Everyone was like, ‘What are you screaming about?'” McLean said. “She was standing by the bus and had just been swept, and she started crying. I called her first, not my dad. She told my dad, ‘Oh my God, I’ll call you right back.'”
On May 15, 2023, Wendy and McLean’s father Mike, as well as the whole family, attended McLean’s Reds major league debut at Coles Field. At the time, the Reds lost 9-8 to the Rockies, and McLean hit 1 hit in 4 hits, including a double, and contributed 2 points.
Since then, McLean’s two brothers have also entered professional baseball. Sean, 24, was selected in the fifth round of the 2022 MLB draft and currently plays for the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Double A team. Nick, 22, was selected by the White Sox in the third round of the 2024 MLB draft and is currently an outfielder for the White Sox.
As the first-round pick of the Reds in 2021, McLean is grateful for his parents’ support for him and his brothers. He’s especially grateful for the way they made sure the three brothers attended every youth and little league game growing up. Even if that meant driving to a different city for each game.
“Traveling around, helping us, everything,” McLean said. “People don’t realize how much parents do for us. They sacrificed their weekends to take us to games. Sometimes we were 12 and there were only two games, but they would still drive an hour to take us to games. It was really crazy, but it was awesome.”
