The New York Yankees saw much of their coaching staff leave
when Joe Girardi was asked not to return to his managerial position in 2018,
and that included their bench coach, first base coach, hitting coach and their
third base coach. The Yankees sought to promote from within at a lot of these
positions, but one man opened enough eyes outside the Yankees organization to
garner an interview, and eventually a job with the team. Phil Nevin was named
to manager Aaron Boone’s staff this winter as the team’s third base coach, so
let’s meet the man with the thankless job of sending and holding runners at
third base all season long. This is Meet a Coach: The Phil Nevin Edition.
Phillip Joseph Nevin was born on January 19, 1971 in
California where the right-hander attended El Dorado High School in Placentia,
California. After graduating from high school the Los Angeles Dodgers took a
waiver on the infielder by selecting him in the third round of the 1989 MLB
First Year Players Draft. The Dodgers were prepared to give Nevin a $100,000
signing bonus to forego his college commitment and to begin his professional
career, but in the end Nevin decided he would attend California State
University, Fullerton, better known as Cal State Fullerton. As a two-sport star
at Cal State Fullerton, Nevin played both baseball and football, Nevin
represented both teams to the fullest as a kicker and as a third baseman. Nevin
led the Titans to the College World Series final as a Junior, although his team
did lose to the eventual champion Pepperdine Waves baseball team and won the
CWS Most Outstanding Player award. Nevin’s contributions to the Titans led the the
Houston Astros to take Nevin with the first overall pick in the 1992 MLB First
Year Players Draft. Much controversy was had after Nevin, and not eventual New
York Yankees legend Derek Jeter, was taken first overall, especially by Houston
Astros scout Hal Newhouser.
Newhouser was a scout for the Astros who had evaluated Jeter
extensively prior to the Draft and had lobbied team management to select Jeter.
When the Astros decided to pick Nevin instead Newhouser quit in protest over
the decision. The Astros were worried that Jeter would want a signing bonus in
excess of $1 million to sign with them and forego his college commitment, while
the team thought the team could sign Nevin, a college Junior, for significantly
less. When all he negotiations were complete the Astros thought they had their
third baseman of the future after signing Nevin in June of 1992 for just
$700,000.
Nevin traveled with the Astros at the end of the 1992 season
despite being on the team’s active roster as the team prepared their third
baseman to go to the Arizona Fall League. Nevin showed he needed little work in
the Minor Leagues during the Fall League of 1992 and during Spring Training
camp in 1993 where he hit .350 and showed tremendous power for the Astros. The
team considered letting him skip the Minor Leagues all together and even
considered letting him immediately start in the Major Leagues on Opening Day 1993,
but the team ultimately decided to start him down at Triple-A with the Tucson
Toros due to the fact that the team already had a third baseman in Ken Caminiti
manning the position. While in Triple-A the Astros tried to get Nevin to learn
left field so both he and Caminiti could be on the field at the same time, but
Nevin began the season with a .247 batting average quelling any decisions to
immediately promote him to the Major Leagues, at least for a little while.
Nevin ultimately ended the 1993 season with a .286 batting average, 10 home
runs and 91 RBI, but it was not enough to warrant a trip to the Major Leagues
that season. Nevin was back in Triple-A to begin the 1994 season as well and
this time he had a new position to learn, the first base position.
Nevin’s MLB debut was delayed due to less-than-stellar
defense, Nevin committed 61 errors in his first two seasons, and the MLB work
stoppage in 1994 that cancelled the World Series and delayed the opening of the
1995 season. Before the 1995 season the San Diego Padres had seen enough of
Nevin down in Triple-A and decided to trade Caminiti to the San Diego Padres,
thus opening the door for Nevin to play third base for the team. Nevin, in a
bit of a head scratcher, was not invited to the team’s spring training camp for
the 1995 season. Nevin and teammate Billy Wagner had previously refused to play
with replacement players at the Major League level which many attributed to why
Nevin was not invited to camp that season. Nevin started the 1995 season back
down in Triple-A, but eventually he did too much with the bat to warrant being
down there and the Astros finally promoted him to the Major Leagues on June 10
of that season. Nevin played in just 18 games that season, struggling with a
.117 batting average and no home runs before being demoted back to Triple-A.
Nevin, when learning of the news, cursed at Astros General Manager Bob Watson
and their manager Terry Collins, an incident he would later have to apologize
for.
Before the 1996 season the Houston Astros traded Nevin and his
presumed bad attitude to the Detroit Tigers for pitcher Mike Henneman. Nevin
was assigned to the Tigers Double-A team where he was converted into a catcher.
After the 1997 season Nevin was traded once again alongside catcher Matt
Walbeck to the Anaheim Angels, where former manager Terry Collins was now
managing, for minor leaguer Nick Skuse. Nevin could never seemingly stay in one
place for long at the beginning of his career and he was on the move again
before the 1999 season after the Angels traded Nevin and minor league player
Keith Volkman to the San Diego Padres. With the Padres in 1999 Nevin appeared
in 100 games for the first time during his Major League career. Nevin seemingly
found his way while out in San Diego enjoying a productive 2000 season before
being named to the National League All-Star team in 2001 after hitting 41 home
runs and knocking in 126 RBI. Nevin did lead the league in errors at third base
with 27, but his offensive production more than made up for that for the
Padres.
Nevin was converted back to first base for the 2002 season,
his strongest defensively by many metrics and stats, but injuries would tell
the tales of his 2002 and 2003 seasons, and not his defense or offensive production.
In 2002 Nevin strained his elbow, then three games after returning from the
elbow injury he broke his arm diving for a ground ball missing six additional
weeks. In 2003 Nevin dislocated his shoulder in spring training and did not
return until the month of June after left shoulder surgery. By July Nevin was
back under the knife after undergoing arthroscopic surgery to repair torn
cartilage in his right knee in July. In Nevin’s absence the Padres acquired
Rondell White to replace Nevin in the outfield while allowing Ryan Klesko to play
first base and rookie Sean Burroughs to man the hot corner at third base,
pushing Nevin to a utility role.
Nevin and Padres GM Kevin Towers were said to have a “love-hate”
relationship and that relationship was almost severed on July 25, 2005 after
the Padres agreed to trade Nevin to the Baltimore Orioles for RHP Sidney Ponson.
Nevin exercised a clause in his contract that allowed him to block a trade to
one of eight teams, one of those franchises being the Baltimore Orioles, but
was ultimately traded five days later on July 30, 2005 to the Texas Rangers for
Chan Ho Park. Nevin slumped while with the Rangers, and so did Texas who went
1-12 in Nevin’s first 13 games, which ultimately ended in him being benched
after the team was eliminated from playoff contention.
Nevin had one year left on his contract for the 2006 season
and he hoped that playing DH for the Rangers would revitalize his game and put
to rest any rumors of him losing bat speed as he aged. Nevin continued to
struggle in 2006 batting just .216 with nine home runs and 31 RBI in 46 games
which prompted the team to call up rookie Jason Botts, who received the bulk of
Nevin’s playing time. The Rangers ultimately traded Nevin to the Chicago Cubs
who needed a first baseman to replace the injured Derrick Lee on May 31, 2006
for Jerry Hairston, Jr. Three months later Nevin was traded once again on
August 31, 2006 to the Minnesota Twins for cash and a player to be named later.
Nevin appeared in the postseason for the first time that season with the Twins,
although Minnesota was ultimately swept by the Oakland Athletics in three
games. Nevin appeared in just one of those games, batting 0-for-3.
That would be Nevin’s final game as the former third baseman
and utility player announced his retirement prior to the 2007 season. Nevin
played 12 seasons at the Major League level hitting 208 home runs and driving
in 743 RBI with a career .270 batting average. Nevin spent the 2007 season as a
member of the Padres’ pre-game radio show and as an analyst for ESPN during the
college baseball regionals during the annual College World Series.
Nevin returned to baseball as a manager in 2008 after being
named the manager of the Orange County Flyers in the Independent Golden
Baseball League. Nevin managed the Flyers in 2008 and 2009, and planned to do
so again in 2010, but after attending the winter meetings in 2010 the former MLB
player was named the manager of the Erie SeaWolves, the Class-AA minor league
affiliate of the Detroit Tigers, replacing former manager Tom Brookens after
Brookens was promoted to first base coach at the Major League level. Nevin
spent one season with the SeaWlves before being promoted to Triple-A with the
Tigers AAA team, the Toledo Mud Hens before the 2011 season. Nevin lasted two
seasons with Toledo before being fired on August 31, 2013 after managing to a
192-238 record over his three seasons.
Nevin bounced back for the 2014 season finding a job with
the Arizona Diamondbacks managing their Triple-A team, the Reno Aces. In his
first season with the Aces, Nevin led the team to the best record in the
Pacific Coast League, 81-63, and an eventual Pacific Coast League Championship
Series berth. Nevin remained with the organization for the 2015 and 2016 season
before the San Francisco Giants named Nevin their third-base coach for the
2017, replacing Roberto Kelly. After the 2017 season the New York Yankees and
new manager Aaron Boone came calling in hopes that Nevin would accept the same
position with their team in the Bronx for 2018. Nevin ultimately decided to
make the move to the Bronx and will now be sending players home with an
exaggerated windmill type arm motion all season long. It’s a thankless job,
Phil. Especially in the Bronx. I hope you’re ready. Good luck, welcome to the
organization, and more importantly welcome to the family. Do us proud.
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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)