Against All Odds

From the Boston Globe:

Daniel Nava weighed 135 pounds and did not get many at-bats during his senior year at St. Francis High in Mountain View, Calif.

Mark O’Brien, the baseball coach at Santa Clara University, was only being polite when he invited Daniel Nava to come out for his team as a walk-on in the fall of 2001.

“He came out for the team and I’ll be honest with you, he didn’t get many balls out of the infield,’’ O’Brien said. “I called him in the office and said, ‘Hey, man, I love you as a kid but I can’t look you in the eye and say you can play for this team.’ It’s hard to let a kid go, but there wasn’t much I could do.’’

But O’Brien was willing to let Nava hang around the program. What he could offer was a chance to shag balls during batting practice, rake the field and wash the uniforms on road trips.

“Most kids wouldn’t have wanted to do that,’’ O’Brien said. “But look what happened.’’

Nava stuck around the Santa Clara program for two seasons and 2 years later an unexpected growth spurt left Nava 5 feet 10 inches and 170 pounds. A pipsqueak no longer, Nava was driving the ball to all fields. But for financial reasons, Nava had to leave school and enrolled at San Mateo Junior College.

Nava then tried out for the independent league Chico Outlaws and was cut. He made the team the following season and was named MVP. Baseball America magazine named Nava the best prospect in the independent leagues.

That caught the attention of Red Sox assistant director of pro scouting Jared Porter, who recommended that Nava’s rights be purchased from Chico.

The high-stakes deal: $1 up front with an additional $1,499 if Nava made it through spring training in 2008.

Nava soared through the organization, advancing a level each season before being called up to Fenway Park on Saturday. He came to the plate with the bases loaded in the second inning and hit the first pitch he saw from Joe Blanton into the Red Sox bullpen for a grand slam.

The former team manager is now 4 for 8 with 2 doubles, a grand slam, and 5 RBIs as a member of the Red Sox. There is not a more unlikely rookie in all of baseball than the 27-year-old Nava.

From: http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2010/06/15/nava_still_rolling_against_all_odds/