Daniel Nava

From 2010 through 2017, Daniel Nava played in 589 major-league games (for five different teams), but the high point of his entire career came on the very first pitch he saw. He hit it for a grand slam, only the second player in major-league history to accomplish such a memorable feat.1 

By the time his 2010 debut season was over, Nava had logged 188 plate appearances, with a .242 batting average and a .351 on-base percentage. He’d driven in 26 runs in 60 games, but still had just that one home run to his credit.

Nava’s signing to the Boston Red Sox was something else that was quite unusual at the time. There was no multimillion-dollar signing bonus. His bonus was $1.00. He was a player who had failed to make his college baseball team and instead became the team’s equipment manager. It’s probably safe to say that his love of the game and his determination – with encouraging support along the way – led him to persevere and forge a career in baseball.

Daniel James Nava was a switch-hitting outfielder, occasional first baseman, and sometimes designated hitter who played for five major-league teams. He was a member of the 2013 World Series champion Boston Red Sox. He was born to Don and Becky Nava in Redwood City, California, on February 22, 1983. Don Nava was – and as of 2024 remained – in the fitness industry. Becky Nava raised Daniel and his two younger siblings, one brother and one sister.  

Daniel attended St. Francis High School in Mountain View, California, about 15 miles southeast of Redwood City. For college, he went to Santa Clara University in the city of the same name, about another 10 miles farther east.

Nava took his time to develop into the 5-foot-10, 195-pound player he became in the majors. He was a youngster “who clawed and clawed just to stay relevant in his sport.”2 Even in Little League, he was told he was too small to play.3 He explained, “I entered high school at a robust 4-foot-8, 70 pounds, and was basically just struggling to make the team my freshman year. I ended up making the team all four years, but never played very much. When I did play, I was just so small, so I didn’t do very well. I was more of a defensive guy. I mainly played center field because I was light as a feather, meaning that I could cover a lot of ground. But I never really was any type of prospect.”4

When it came to college, Nava tried out for the baseball team at Santa Clara, but did not succeed. Instead, he joined as the team’s equipment manager. He found himself washing uniforms and taking care of the bats and balls. He also had other responsibilities that connected more to his future career in player development. Using the relatively simpler technology of the day, he worked with video and data. “I kind of logged a lot of stuff that was going on. I got to watch the game from a different perspective. My brain was turned on and engaged in the game.”5

Santa Clara cost too much for his parents, however, and after one year he transferred to junior college at the College of San Mateo. He made the baseball team and succeeded in becoming a Junior College All-American.6 Coach Doug Williams at San Mateo was also an important influence. That he even tried out for the team at San Mateo was the result of a chance encounter at an area gym, when Daniel ran into an old friend he’d known back in Little League days, Chris Mezzavilla. “All the players then are pretty much the same stature. I was one of the better players in the league, but then everyone else grew and I didn’t. When I ran into him in the gym, I’m sure he had these memories of me. He said, ‘Hey, what are you doing? You should come and try out at the junior college.’” Daniel figured, “Why not?” But there was a moment when he sat down with Coach Williams, who asked him, “When was the last time you played?” – and Daniel’s response was, “Almost three years ago, in high school.” He says he remembers the coach’s jaw kind of dropped.7

Still, Coach Williams gave him a shot and Nava joined in a scrimmage against another team. “I hadn’t seen live pitching for three years, since the tryout at Santa Clara. I struck out my first at-bat. I didn’t even swing. I remember walking back to the dugout and thinking I could smash this guy. He dotted some pitches. I felt like I shouldn’t have swung because they weren’t good pitches for me to hit, but I told myself I’d be ready in my next at-bat. This guy’s going to make a mistake. I hit a home run. I destroyed it. I have never hit a ball that far in my life.” He went on to hit for the cycle that day.8 Coach Williams believed in him and encouraged him, and that support carried him going forward.

Nava had considerable success for San Mateo, batting over .400. Santa Clara took notice and invited the former equipment manager to return there for his senior year, on a full baseball scholarship. With just the one year of eligibility left, Daniel got in 200 at-bats, and hit a West Coast Conference-leading .395 with an on-base percentage of .494. He also earned his degree in psychology.

Nava’s playing stats didn’t get him any offers from big-league teams, so he joined the Chico (California) Outlaws of the independent Golden Baseball League – twice. In 2006, he says, “I tried out for the Chico Outlaws and actually got cut by them. So I didn’t play for a whole year. I was trying to get picked up, trying anything to play somewhere. But every door got shut. Basically, about a year after I got cut from Chico, they called me up and told me that one of their players wasn’t able to make it out, so if I wanted a chance to play – I wasn’t even guaranteed a shot – that I could cruise on up there and try out for the team.” (Chico is in Northern California, about 90 miles north of Sacramento.)9

He made the Outlaws in 2007 and hit .371 (OBP .475), for which he credited manager Mark Parent. Mike Andrews of SoxProspects.com wrote, “Baseball America ranked Nava the top indy league prospect, just a year after he didn’t even make the team. The caveat, of course, is that this is independent ball, not a major-league affiliate. That didn’t stop Boston’s Jared Porter, now director of professional scouting [for the Red Sox] but then the assistant director, from signing Nava following the season.”10

It cost the Red Sox just one dollar to sign Nava. But the dollar didn’t go to him, it went to the Outlaws. The deal included an additional $1,499 that would be paid if he made it through spring training. He did. He never received the one-dollar bill, though. It does not hang framed in his home. That first dollar and the rest of the $1,500 went to Chico, as the price for selling his contract to the Red Sox.

Nava’s first assignment was to the Lancaster JetHawks in the Advanced-A California League. There his manager in 2008 was Chad Epperson, another important influence. Nava ranked high in most batting categories, with a .341 batting average and 59 RBIs in 85 games.11

Nava took another couple of steps up the ladder in 2009, playing (also under Epperson) in Salem, Virginia, in the Advanced-A Carolina League. He hit .339 in 29 games for the Salem Red Sox. Of Epperson, Nava said, “He went to bat for me with the front office and more or less said, ‘This kid can play. This kid can hit. I don’t care what you guys have seen, but this kid can play.’ He said that to me: ‘You can play’ – and that goes a long way, at any time, but when you’re up against it.”12

When he was called up to the Double-A (Eastern League) Portland Sea Dogs, he did even better, driving in 23 runs in 32 games and batting .364.

Nava started the 2010 season with Triple-A Pawtucket. The Red Sox had a need to develop young talent, however, and he was called up to the big leagues soon after. The Red Sox had two outfielders on the disabled list – Jacoby Ellsbury with a fractured rib since May 24 and Jeremy Hermida with an injured but not broken rib. Hermida’s last game was June 9. After Boston’s June 11 game, they sent Josh Reddick, batting just .176, down to Pawtucket. They decided to give Nava a shot. The Boston Globe called him “Pawtucket’s best outfielder, with a .294 average, 8 homers, and 38 RBIs.”13

The next day’s newspapers had a lot more to say about Nava. His debut came on Saturday afternoon, June 12, 2010. Nava was playing left field and batting ninth in the Boston lineup, in an interleague game at Fenway Park against the visiting Philadelphia Phillies. He’d done a pregame interview with Red Sox radio broadcaster Joe Castiglione, who told him a story he himself had been told by the former Milwaukee Braves outfielder Chuck Tanner, who had homered in his first at-bat in April 1955. Castiglione passed on Tanner’s simple advice: “Swing at the first pitch, because you’ll never get it back.”14

Joe Blanton was the starting pitcher for the Phillies. Right fielder J.D. Drew led off the bottom of the second with a solo home run. With a single from each of the next three Boston batters, the Red Sox loaded the bases and Nava stepped into the batter’s box, batting left-handed. 

He swung at the first pitch – Blanton later said it was a sinker that didn’t sink – and hit the ball deep into the Red Sox bullpen in right-center field, where teammate Manny Delcarmen leapt and snared it. “I was just looking for something to drive,” Nava said after the game. As he rounded the bases, he said, he thought, “Oh, man, I just hit a grand slam.”15 Both of his parents were at the game.

Only three other ballplayers have hit a grand slam in their first major-league at-bat: Bill Duggleby, for the Philadelphia Phillies on April 22, 1898; the aforementioned Jeremy Hermida (whose rib injury had given Nava the opportunity) for the Florida Marlins on August 31, 2005; and Kevin Kouzmanoff, for the Cleveland Indians on September 2, 2006. Kouzmanoff was the only other one to do so on the first pitch.16

The very next inning, Nava was presented with an opportunity to do it all over again. The bases were loaded and Blanton still on the mound. On the fourth pitch, Nava struck out on a half-swing. He had been well aware the bases were loaded once more “and some thought crossed through my head that it would be ridiculous” should he replicate the feat.17 The Red Sox went on to win the game, 10-2. Nava had one more hit in the game, a double to the gap in left-center field in the sixth. His homer provided the winning runs and the reliever who caught the ball in the bullpen – Manny Delcarmen – had come into the game, was the pitcher of record at the end of the fifth, and got the win.

Nava picked up another RBI the next afternoon, on a ninth-inning single in a losing effort.

By the end of June, he’d played in 15 games, with 11 RBIs, and was batting .291. Notably, he reached base one way or another in his first 12 games, and 17 of his first 18.

There were a couple of returns to Pawtucket before the season was over, but when it was all said and done, Nava appeared in 60 major-league games, with a more modest .242 batting average, but a decent .351 on-base percentage. He had driven in 26 runs and scored 23. The grand slam was the only home run he hit all season long.

Only one other Red Sox player had hit a homer on the first pitch thrown to him – Bill “Lefty” Lefebvre, a pitcher who had never played in the minors, but homered in his big-league debut on June 10, 1938. In all, there were nine Red Sox players before Nava who had homered in their first at-bat for Boston. Among them was Nava’s teammate Darnell McDonald, who had done so less than eight weeks earlier, on April 20.18

During 2011, the regular Red Sox outfielders stayed healthy for most part and Nava spent the entire season with the Triple-A PawSox, despite having been designated for assignment in May. (He was hitting .192 at the time.) He was not claimed off waivers and thus was able to remain in the organization. Two days after he’d been sent down in March, the Boston Globe ran an editorial – not in the sports section but on its editorial page – characterizing him as “Cinderella, after the ball” but saying he’d be back: “The real Daniel Nava story should not be about dreams coming true, but about how people with true desire and character keep on working, making their own fortunes.”19 With Pawtucket, Nava hit .268 in 121 games, with 10 homers and 48 RBIs.

Nava began the 2012 season with the PawSox but was called up in early May, doubling and driving in a run on May 10. He got his second major-league homer on May 14. By the end of June, he was batting .302. He began to tail off but remained with the team until near the end of July, when an injured wrist dictated a disabled list stay for a few weeks. By season’s end, he was batting .243.

Nava was married in the early offseason of 2012. As of early 2024, he and his wife, Rachel (née Parker), lived in the Greater Nashville area and have two children, their daughter, Faith (born August 5, 2013), and son, Zeke (born September 2, 2016).

The year 2013 saw the Red Sox go from worst to first – last place in the AL East in 2012 to winning the World Series in 2013. On April 8, Nava’s seventh-inning three-run homer in the Fenway Park home opener provided all the runs in a 3-1 win over the visiting Orioles. Then on April 15, two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon just after the end of that day’s Red Sox game. The team was on their way out of town immediately after the game. Their first day back in Boston was a highly emotional one, on April 20. The Red Sox were losing 2-1 when Nava stepped to the plate with two on and two outs in the bottom of the eighth. He hit a three-run homer into the Red Sox bullpen and won the game, with the final score of 4-2.

Nava was a major contributor to Boston’s resurgence that season, playing in 134 games and batting .303 (eighth in the league), and his .385 ranked fifth in on-base percentage. “More playing time unlocked his potential,” wrote Peter Abraham.20 Among his teammates, only David Ortiz topped him in batting average (.309) and OBP (.395).21

In postseason play, manager John Farrell – citing intangibles – opted for Jonny Gomes in left more often than Nava, who played in just two ALDS games and two ALCS games (in Game One, he had the only hit for Boston, a ninth-inning single).22 Throughout his career, though a switch-hitter, Nava hit much better against right-handers than left-handers. In 2013 he hit .322 against righties, compared with .252 against lefties.23

But it did help that Nava could hit from both sides of the plate. Back with Lancaster, he was told that part of the reason he made the team out of spring training was that he could switch-hit.24

Nava played in the first five of the six World Series games, starting in right field in two of them. He was 2-for-14 with two RBIs, both in the 5-4 loss to the Cardinals in Game Three. The Red Sox won the Series and Daniel Nava received a World Series championship ring.

Nava got off to a slow start in 2014, starting in 17 of the first 20 games but batting only .149. He was sent to Pawtucket for a month, but took a while to get going. He hit just .253 at Triple A. By season’s end, back with the Red Sox he bumped his average up to .270. In 408 plate appearances, he drove in only 37 runs.  

Nava’s 2015 season started slowly as well. Penciled in as more of a reserve player,25 he still appeared in 27 of Boston’s first 45 games, but hit just .159. A left thumb strain saw him rehab in 10 games with Pawtucket, but he hit only .250 and was designated for assignment just before the end of July. About a week later, he was claimed by Tampa Bay. He appeared in 31 games for the Rays, batting .233 with only 3 RBIs. In November, his contract expired and the following month he signed a one-year deal as a free agent with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Nava hit .288 over his first eight games in 2016 but left-knee tendinitis cost him three weeks.  When he came back, his hitting declined. He was batting .222 by the end of May, the same mark at the end of June, and just .235 at the end of July. He’d hit one home run. At the end of August, the Kansas City Royals arranged to acquire his contract. He got into nine September games with KC, but had only 12 plate appearances and one base hit.

Nava enjoyed a bit of a resurgence in 2017. He signed with the Philadelphia Phillies, made the team in spring training, and played in 80 games, often as a pinch-hitter. He homered in each of his first two at-bats, but added only two more during the rest of the year. He hit for a solid .301 average, but drove in only 21 runs.

The next year, 2018, Nava went to spring training with the Pittsburgh Pirates as a nonroster invitee. But before he could really get started, he required back surgery on February 27. He was expected to be out 10 to 12 weeks; instead, he did not play pro ball that year. Pain had prompted him to go in for a discectomy, for a “quick cleanup.” Relief was immediate, but he contracted an infection and the situation became so bad he had to be wheeled into the ICU, unable to walk. The doctors were able to clear it up, but Nava “had to learn to walk again. That whole year was just gone.”26

Nava wasn’t ready to give up yet. In June 2019 he signed up to play independent baseball with the American Association’s Kansas City T-Bones. He wanted to prove he was healthy and could still play, hopefully to catch on with an affiliated team. At age 36, he was the oldest player on the team but got into 71 games, primarily at first base. He hit for a .288 average and his 46 RBIs were second-best on the team. The T-Bones won their division but lost out in the playoff semifinals. No minor-league teams stepped forward to pick up Nava.

That winter Nava played in seven Mexican Pacific League  games in Sinaloa for the Algodoneros de Guasave. He had four base hits – all singles – batting .148. Teams in other countries are sometimes quick to cut “import players” and his playing career was over. 

The 2017 season was the last Nava played in the major leagues. His career stats show just 12 errors in 1,015 chances (.988), and a .266 batting average with a .357 on-base percentage. He drove in 206 runs in 1,977 plate appearances.

The pandemic year of 2020 saw minor-league baseball close for the season. Nava thought about training at a remote site to perhaps be called up if a major-league team had a sudden need, but nothing came of it.

“Then 2021 rolled around and it kind of felt it was time to move in a different direction. Through some contacts with the Dodgers, I finally got hooked up with them. My first position was in Arizona and I was an assistant hitting coach in the Arizona Complex League. From there I went to Low-A Rancho Cucamonga and I was the bench coach there.”27

In 2023 Nava was named manager of the Great Lakes Loons, the Dodgers’ club in the High-A Midwest League, based in Midland, Michigan. The Loons finished 76-55, first in the East Division, but lost out in the single-game playoff for the league championship.

Nava talked with the Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham about transitioning from playing to coaching. “The biggest adjustment is the mind-set. You go to the park as an observer of everyone else. When you’re playing, you’re focused on yourself and what you’re doing and how your body’s feeling. As a coach, nobody cares about you. … It’s more about [getting other players] ready for the next level. That’s why I want to coach at the highest level, because contributing to a win at the big leagues is completely different than the impact of a win in the minors.” He added, “I would love to be a manager. A lot of things I learned at the end of my career really opened my eyes to things I overlooked as a younger player.” He looked forward to being able to offer support and encouragement to others.28 

In 2024, Daniel Nava was named the outfield coordinator for the Dodgers’ minor-league system, a roving position that saw him travel to the various teams and work with young prospects in the system. Working in player development, perhaps he would be able to encourage others as he, in earlier days, had been encouraged.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org. Video of Nava’s first three at-bats in the game, including the first-pitch grand slam, are available on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf4k8hr1sv4

Photo credit: Daniel Nava, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 Kevin Kouzmanoff had hit a grand slam on the first pitch he had been thrown, on September 2, 2006. See Andrew Harner’s Games Project account of that game at https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/september-2-2006-kevin-kouzmanoff-blasts-first-big-league-pitch-for-grand-slam/. There are other players who hit a grand slam in their first at-bat, but not on the very first pitch.

2 Ian Browne, “Nava’s Mom Always Supportive of Unpredictable Career,” MLB.com, May 10, 2013. https://www.mlb.com/redsox/news/daniels-navas-mom-supportive-of-red-sox-ofs-career/c-47067034.

3 Danny Wild, “Nava’s Journey to Majors Hard to Believe,” milb.com, October 28, 2010. https://www.milb.com/news/gcs-15795320.

4 Mike Andrews, “Meet Daniel Nava, the Best Red Sox Minor Leaguer You’ve Never Heard Of,” espn.com, April 8, 2010. https://www.espn.com/blog/boston/red-sox/post/_/id/2090/meet-daniel-nava-the-best-red-sox-minor-leaguer-you%E2%80%99ve-never-heard-of.  Asked later if 70 pounds was really correct, Nava said, “Technically, I was lighter than that – 68 pounds – but I rounded it up.” Conversation with Daniel Nava, February 20, 2024.

5 Author interview with Daniel Nava on January 9, 2024. Hereafter, “Nava interview.”

6 Marc Normandin, “Meet Daniel Nava, Unlikely Major Leaguer,” SBNation.com, June 1, 2012. https://www.sbnation.com/2012/6/1/3056853/daniel-nava-unlikely-major-leaguer-red-sox.

7 Nava interview.

8 Nava interview.

9 Andrews.

10 Andrews.

11 He pitched once for Lancaster, the only time did so professionally. He faced seven batters, walked three and gave up two base hits, one of them a home run. He was charged with three earned runs.

12 Nava interview.

13 Nick Cafardo, “Lowell Showcases His Value,” Boston Globe, June 12, 2010: C5.

14 Nate Taylor, “Nava Enjoys a Debut Loaded with Excitement,” Boston Globe, June 13, 2010: C1, C6.

15 Taylor. Nava had watched some video of Joe Blanton before the game. Conversation with Daniel Nava, February 20, 2024.

16 Hermida was still with the team when Nava hit his homer, and later on June 12, or the next day, mentioned to Nava that he had hit a grand slam in his own first at-bat. In July the Red Sox visited Oakland for a three-game series from July 19-21 and Kevin Kouzmanoff was with the Athletics at the time. It struck Nava at the time that on that field were three of the four players – Hermida, Kouzmanoff, and himself – who had hit grand slams in their debut at-bats. Bill Duggleby, who hit his grand slam back in 1898, was remembered but not present. Conversation with Daniel Nava on February 20, 2024.

17 Nick Cafardo, “Red Sox Win, but Lose Matsuzaka,” Boston Globe, June 13, 2010: C1, C6.

18 McDonald had played for other teams before coming to Boston, but homered in his first Red Sox at-bat.

19 “Daniel Nava: Cinderella, After the Ball,” Boston Globe, March 22, 2011: A10.

20 Peter Abraham, “Stability Helped Set Sox Straight,” Boston Globe, October 1, 2013: C4.

21 He was hit by pitches 15 times, second only to Shane Victorino’s 18.

22 Peter Abraham, “Napoli to Start Game 3, and Gomes May, Too,” Boston Globe, October 15, 2013: C5. Nava had typically batted against right-handers during the season, and Farrell said “it’s been very difficult” to sit Nava, giving Gomes the nod more often on what he called as something of a “hunch.” Peter Abraham, “Gomes Start Was Feel-Good Story,” Boston Globe, October 20, 2013: C7.

23 At the end of his playing career, one sees he batted .281 against right-handers and .211 against southpaws. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=navada01&year=Career&t=b.

24 “They had a couple of prospects who were left-handed hitters. I was told, basically, you’re going to be going there as the fourth outfielder and if it there’s a tough, tough lefty to protect these guys against, we might give them a blow and you can go in there and balance us out a little more on the roster since you can also bat right-handed.” Nava interview.

25 See Julian Benbow, “Nava Is Making Most of Chances,” Boston Globe, April 12, 2015: C7.

26 Nava interview.

27 Nava interview.

28 Peter Abraham, “Nava’s Goal Is to Get Back, as Coach or Manager,” Boston Globe, January 7, 2024: C6.

Mexican Pacific (Winter) League

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/league.cgi?id=a6829fe6