Nevin Named College Player of the Year

Phil Nevin’s stature in the amateur baseball ranks grew even more Thursday when the Cal State Fullerton third baseman was named Baseball America’s college player of the year.

Nevin already has been projected by Baseball America as the first pick in next week’s professional draft.

He won Big West Conference player of the year honors, Collegiate Baseball All-American honors and is one of 40 finalists to play for the U.S. Olympic team in Barcelona this summer.

Now, his biggest challenge is to block all of this out of his mind so he can concentrate on the task at hand: tonight’s game against Florida State in the College World Series.

“My biggest goal is to win the College World Series, and that’s right in front of me,” Nevin said. “I’m not going to let this distract me from it. I’ve been able to stay focused all year through all the attention from scouts, so I think I’ll be able to stay focused on the team this week.”

Nevin has been the focus at Fullerton all season. He enters the College World Series batting .390 with 20 homers, 18 doubles and 75 runs batted in. A telling sign of the fear he struck into opponents is his team-leading 57 walks. Ohio State intentionally walked him three times in an NCAA South I Region playoff game last week.

Nevin, who played shortstop in 1991 but moved back to third this season, also improved defensively, thanks to a weight program that increased his strength and improved his throwing arm, and his vigorous efforts to master the minute details of the game.

“I’ve really concentrated on the little things this year, the fundamentals,” Nevin said. “The hardest thing to do in baseball is repeat the simplest things. Because you do them so much, there’s always an easy way to get around them. But I’ve been able to stay on top of things. I can’t thank Augie (Garrido, Fullerton coach) and George (Horton, associate head coach) enough for what they did for me this year.”

Nevin also thanked his teammates, especially catcher Jason Moler, and his high school coach, El Dorado’s Steve Gullotti, with whom he remains in close contact.

“They made it all happen for me--they helped get me through some rough times last year and this year,” Nevin said. “Mainly, they helped change my mental approach. They knew what was out there for me, and I didn’t. I didn’t think I had to work for anything, but they talked to me a lot, kicked me in the butt to get me going. I’m grateful for their help.”

Nevin joins an impressive list of Baseball America College Players of the Year that includes Mike Kelly, Ben McDonald, Robin Ventura, Pete Incaviglia, Oddibe McDowell and Dave Magadan.

“I’m happy to be thought of in that category,” Nevin said. “It’s exciting for me.”

Allan Simpson, editor of Baseball America, said Nevin picked the right year to play as well as he did.

“His timing couldn’t have been better,” he said. “Just like a major leaguer who has a productive season in the year he becomes a free agent, Phil responded with a great season in his draft year.”

UCLA pitcher Pete Janicki, a teammate of Nevin’s at El Dorado, and Pepperdine pitcher Steve Montgomery, a Fountain Valley graduate, were selected third-team All-Americans by Baseball America.