Melvin Lynn Bunch, Jr. (born November 4, 1971), is a former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. He played parts of two seasons in the majors: with the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

and for the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

. He also played three seasons in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

for the

Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011) ...

from through . In his second start with Chunichi in April 2000, Bunch became the fourth American to throw a

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

. Bunch left the Dragons and returned to the United States in August 2002 to seek treatment for

anxiety attack Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear and discomfort that may include palpitations, sweating, chest pain or chest discomfort, shortness of breath, trembling, dizziness, Hypoesthesia, numbness, confusion, or a feeling of impending doom ...

s. He would not play in professional baseball again.

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1971 births Living people Baseball players from Texas Major League Baseball pitchers Kansas City Royals players Seattle Mariners players Texarkana Bulldogs baseball players American expatriate baseball players in Japan Gulf Coast Royals players Chunichi Dragons players Omaha Royals players Tacoma Rainiers players People from Texarkana, Texas Eugene Emeralds players Rockford Royals players Ottawa Lynx players American expatriate baseball players in Canada Harrisburg Senators players Wilmington Blue Rocks players {{US-baseball-pitcher-1970s-stub