Phil Nevin

Phillip Joseph Nevin (born January 19, 1971) is an American professional baseball coach, and former infielder. He was also the manager for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2022 to 2023. He played in MLB for 12 seasons, appearing in 1,217 games played between 1995 and 2006 for the Houston Astros, Detroit Tigers, Anaheim Angels, San Diego Padres, Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs and Minnesota Twins. He has previously served as a coach in MLB for the San Francisco Giants and New York Yankees.

Nevin attended California State University, Fullerton, where he played college baseball and college football, as a kicker, for the Cal State Fullerton Titans team. Nevin led the Titans to the championship game in the 1992 College World Series (CWS), after which he was named the CWS Most Outstanding Player and won the Golden Spikes Award. Chosen with the first-overall pick in the 1992 Major League Baseball draft, Nevin went on to play in MLB for seven teams across 12 seasons. He was selected to appear in the 2001 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

After retiring from baseball, Nevin went into broadcasting, and then managed the unaffiliated Orange County Flyers for a season. He managed the Class AA Erie SeaWolves and the Class AAA Toledo Mud Hens in the Tigers organization before joining the Arizona Diamondbacks organization in 2014, managing the Reno Aces. He then returned to MLB to coach the Giants in 2017 and for the Yankees from 2018 through 2021. He joined the Angels as a coach in 2022 and became interim manager after the firing of Joe Maddon. On October 5, 2022, the Angels signed him to a one-year contract as their permanent manager.

Early life

Nevin attended El Dorado High School in Placentia, California. He decided to attend California State University, Fullerton after turning down an offer that included a signing bonus of $100,000.

College career

A two-sport star, Nevin played American football and baseball for the Cal State Fullerton Titans, competing in the Big West Conference of NCAA Division I. He was a punter and placekicker on the Cal State Fullerton Titans football team. He was named an All-American placekicker his freshman year for the Titans as he connected successfully on his first nine field goal attempts and finished the year with a 15-for-21 field goal percentage. His longest field goal of the season was .

In three seasons at Cal State Fullerton, Nevin had a .364 average with 39 home runs and 184 RBIs.

International career

In 1990, Nevin tried out for the United States national baseball team to play in that year's Goodwill Games and World University Baseball Championship (WUBC). To prepare for those tournaments, the team played a series against Japan and a game in Cuba. Nevin played second and third base for Team USA in 13 of its 22 games, batting .229. The team released him before the Goodwill Games and WUBC as it cut players to meet the roster maximum. Nevin was also considered for the 1991 Pan American Games.

Nevin tried out for the national team again before the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. The team embarked on a 30-game tour and 38-city exhibition-game schedule in the United States before leaving for Spain. He made the team and served as its starting third baseman throughout the tournament.

Professional career

Draft and minor leagues

Two nights after San Diego Padres management informed Nevin that Xavier Nady would replace him as the starting first baseman, Nevin rejected a trade to the Baltimore Orioles for Sidney Ponson on July 25, 2005.

Texas Rangers (2005–2006)

He was instead traded on July 30, a day before the non-waiver trade deadline, to the Texas Rangers for Chan Ho Park, whose salary the Rangers wanted to dump. In his first thirteen games with the Rangers, the team posted a 1–12 record as Nevin batted 5-for-44. That put his season batting average under .200, known as the "Mendoza Line". The Rangers benched Nevin in September, giving his starts to prospect first baseman Adrián González after the team was eliminated from playoff contention.

Minnesota Twins (2006)

On August 31, the deadline for trades of players who had cleared waivers, the Cubs traded Nevin to the Minnesota Twins for cash and a player to be named later. To make room for Nevin, Twins' outfielder Shannon Stewart was placed on the 60-day disabled list.

With the Twins, Nevin stopped worrying about his statistics and enjoyed playing in a pennant race. The Twins were swept by the Oakland Athletics in three games; Nevin appeared in one of the three games, batting 0-for-3.

Unsigned at the beginning of the 2007 season, Nevin announced his retirement on May 12, 2007. During his twelve-season career, Nevin had a .270 batting average with 208 home runs and 743 RBIs in 1,217 games. Nevin planned to return to the Flyers in 2010, but a chance meeting at baseball's winter meetings led to Nevin's hiring as manager of the Erie SeaWolves, the Class-AA minor-league affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. Catcher Omir Santos described his managing the Mud Hens as "like having a big league manager in [Class AAA]." On August 31, 2013, Nevin was fired after the team's final home game of the season. Nevin's record as manager was 192–238; the team never finished higher than third in the International League's West division.

The Arizona Diamondbacks named Nevin as manager of the Reno Aces, their Class AAA affiliate, for the 2014 season. In his first season with Reno, he guided the Aces to a Pacific Coast League-best 81–63 record and an eventual Pacific Coast League Championship Series berth. After the season, the Astros interviewed Nevin for their open managerial position. However Nevin remained the manager of the Reno Aces for the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

On November 7, 2016, the San Francisco Giants named Nevin their third-base coach for the 2017 season, succeeding Roberto Kelly. The Yankees did not renew his contract for the 2022 season.

Los Angeles Angels

On November 29, 2021, Nevin was hired by the Los Angeles Angels to serve as the team's third base coach for the 2022 season. On June 7, 2022, following the firing of Joe Maddon, Nevin was named the Angels' interim manager. On the same day, Nevin managed his first game, but lost to the Boston Red Sox 6–5. On June 9, 2022, the Angels defeated the Red Sox 5–2, giving Nevin his first major league win as a manager as well as snapping the team's 14-game losing streak. On June 27, 2022, Nevin was suspended 10 games for the intentional throwing at Seattle Mariners outfielder Jesse Winker by Angels pitcher Andrew Wantz while warnings were in place during a game against the Mariners the previous day.

On October 5, 2022, the Angels retained Nevin as the team's permanent manager for the 2023 season. In 2023, in a game between the Los Angeles Angels and the New York Yankees, he was ejected from the game twice during the ninth inning with the score locked at 2–2 (the second umpire was unaware he'd been ejected by his fellow ump moments earlier). The Yankees would go on to win the game 3–2 in the 10th innings. After finishing the 2023 season with a record, the Angels announced that Nevin would not return to the organization for the 2024 season.

Managerial record

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center;"

! rowspan="2"|Team !! rowspan="2"|Year !! colspan="5"|Regular season !! colspan="4"|Postseason

!Games!!Won!!Lost!!Win %!!Finish!! Won !! Lost !! Win % !! Result

!LAA||2022

||106||46||60|||| 3rd in AL West || – || – || – || –

!LAA||2023

||162||73||89|||| 4th in AL West || – || – || – || –

! colspan="2"|Total||268||119||149|||| || || || ||

Personal life

Nevin was diagnosed with asthma at two years old. Nevin was hospitalized and treated for asthma five times between 1987 and May 1990, each stay lasting about five days. Nevin is also allergic to grass. At 19 years old, he told the Los Angeles Times that he had half the lung capacity of a typical 17-year-old.

Nevin's first daughter, Koral, was born during his freshman year at Cal State Fullerton; he is no longer in a relationship with Koral's mother. He met his wife, Kristin, at Cal State Fullerton. The couple have two children together; though they were separated during the late 1990s, the couple reconciled. His son, Tyler, made his MLB debut with the Baltimore Orioles in 2021. Another son, Kyle, played college baseball for Baylor University and was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2022 MLB draft.

Nevin lives in the Heritage Estates neighborhood of Poway, California, along with San Diego sporting figures including Bruce Bochy and LaDainian Tomlinson. The neighborhood suffered significant damage in the October 2007 California wildfires. Nevin hosted a baseball camp for children aged six through 16 in 2010.

On May 11, 2021, the Yankees announced that Nevin had tested positive for COVID-19. He also developed a staph infection, and lost .