There and Back : Nevin Eager for Another Chance After Major League Struggle

This baseball season has been an emotional roller coaster for Phil Nevin.

When he went to spring training with the Houston Astros, he was hopeful that the door was finally open for him to land the starting third baseman’s job after two seasons with triple-A Tucson. Ken Caminiti’s trade to San Diego appeared to clear the way.

But the lingering baseball strike almost immediately had an impact. When the owners decided to start the exhibition season using minor leaguers and replacement players, Nevin balked. He was frustrated by the circumstances, but was convinced that honoring the strike was the right thing to do.

When the strike finally ended and the regular season began, Nevin found himself back in Tucson with the Toros.

It was a big disappointment. But Nevin again displayed his potential through the first 55 games, hitting .291 with seven home runs and 38 runs batted in.

Then Nevin, a former Cal State Fullerton star who played at El Dorado High, got the call he had been waiting for. Finally, he would get his chance with Houston, a long-awaited opportunity to show what he could do in the majors.

It turned out to be a nightmare.

Almost nothing went right.

“It was one of the most disappointing things ever, so embarrassing,” Nevin said. “It was really frustrating to go up there and not be able to produce right away.”

Nevin hit .117 in 60 at-bats in 18 games, and made three errors.

The timing probably couldn’t have been worse when he learned he was going back to the minors. He had finally had a good game, going three for five, but was told right afterward that he was being sent back to Tucson. Nevin’s temper flared in the postgame meeting with Manager Terry Collins. Nevin also kicked a waste can in the clubhouse.

“I reacted quickly right after the game, and I was surprised by the decision,” Nevin said. “I said some things that I know I shouldn’t have. Unfortunately, there was a reporter standing outside the door and I thought everything got blown out of proportion after that.”

Nevin later apologized to Collins and General Manager Bob Watson.

“I just wanted them to know that if I offended them I was sorry,” he said. “There were some words exchanged, but it wasn’t a big shouting match, as some people have said it was.”

Watson said the team originally intended to give Nevin more time to show what he could do.

“When we brought him up, we planned on giving him around 150 at-bats, then we’d make a decision on whether to keep him up or not,” Watson said. “When he came up we were about 9 1/2 games off the pace. But during that time, we moved up to only about five games out and we decided we really needed another pitcher at that point.”

Nevin was the first to say he didn’t perform well over the 18 games.

“I just wasn’t myself as a player,” Nevin said. “Maybe I was feeling too much pressure. I was hitting the ball fine when I was called up, but when I didn’t get off to a good start, I think I let it bother me. I tried to do too much. I was trying to improve my average 200 points every time I went to the plate. They needed someone to produce in that spot, and I didn’t do it this time.”

Watson said that as far as he and Collins are concerned the blowup is forgotten.

“He’s apologized, and that’s the end of it,” Watson said. “We still regard him as a prospect, and he’ll get every opportunity to show what he can do on this level.”

Collins said he still regards Nevin as a key player for the organization.

“It’s quite obvious that he really wanted to do well when he came up,” Collins said. “We asked him to put up good numbers in Tucson and he did that. Whether he felt added pressure when he came up, I really can’t say. But we still feel good about him as a prospect.”

For the last two seasons, it seemed only a matter of time before Nevin reached the majors. The Astros picked him No. 1 in the 1992 draft after he led the Titans to the runner-up spot in the College World Series and was named college baseball’s player of the year.

But now Nevin is facing another problem. He played in only three games after returning to Tucson before he tore muscles in his rib cage during batting practice.

“I went back to Tucson with a good attitude about it all, and then the injury,” Nevin said. “I tried to play that day, but when I hit a ball it really was hurting before I got 10 feet out of the box.”

Nevin is on the road with the team and hopes he will be able to start taking batting practice again before the trip ends next week.

“It’s one of those injuries that make it hard to say how long you might be out,” he said. “I’m involved in rehabilitation now, and I hope it won’t be much longer.”

Nevin said he looks back on his brief time in the majors now as “a learning experience.”

Nevin believes the opportunity still exists for him with the Astros.

“There’s a good bunch of guys on the club and several of them really tried to help me when I was up,” he said. “I really want to be able to help this team.

“I still think I’ll have the opportunity to go back up there at some point, maybe even later this season, and I think they’ll see a different player.”