It was a rainy afternoon at Fenway Park when the Red Sox took on the Phillies on June 12, 2010, but that didn’t stop the Boston faithful from turning out to support their beloved baseball team.
It was just another day at the ballpark for many, but for some, it was a life-changing experience. Case and point, Daniel Nava.
ESPN published an article on Nava back in April of 2010, calling him “the best Red Sox prospect you have never heard of” and those claims were pretty accurate—at least for myself. At the time, I was just nine years of age, and I was just excited for the chance to get to see the Red Sox play, even if it was a meaningless interleague game in the beginning of June.
But I, like many others, was not totally aware of who Daniel Nava was. He had been recently called up to the major leagues, coming from Pawtucket where he hit .294 with eight home runs and 38 RBI at the time.
The former Santa Clara University equipment manager and eventual San Mateo Junior College ball-player was slated to bat ninth that day—and when Joe Castiglione interviewed Nava during the pregame, he told Nava to swing at the first pitch. Basically, you only get one first pitch faced in your MLB career, so might as well try and make something special of it.
Well, the table became set very early for the 27-year-old rookie. In the second inning, the Red Sox cut the Phillies lead to 2-1 on a J.D. Drew home run; but were primed for more damage when they loaded the bases for, none other than Daniel Nava.
The pitcher was Joe Blanton. The pitch was a 90 mile-per-hour fastball, out over the plate and Nava took a rip at it.
He hit it clean, and it was targeting the right-center gap at Fenway. But the undrafted Cinderella man, who was not known for his power, hit it a lot harder than many expected. The ball was drilled into the Red Sox bullpen—and would’ve found the bleachers had Sox reliever, Manny Delcarmen not made a leaping catch to secure the ball.
The stadium roared with applause as Nava took his long-awaited inaugural trot around the bases at the major league level. A guy who once wasn’t good enough to play collegiate ball and went undrafted into professional baseball had all the odds against him. But Nava kept clawing his way through the minor leagues, and it eventually got him the shot he deserved.
Nava finished the day 2-4, adding a fifth-inning double to his stat line en route to a 10-2 Red Sox victory.
Daniel went on to play 60 games for the Red Sox in 2010—hitting .242 with a .711 OPS, and just that one home run; but what a homer that was—becoming just the fourth player to ever hit a grand slam in their first major league at-bat—second on the first pitch—is something special.
One Response
Thanks for reminding me of this special moment for Nava.