Astros Get a Real Deal With Nevin

OMAHA —  No. 1 draft choices are made, not born, but don’t try convincing the man who had the very first scouting report on new Houston Astro Phil Nevin.

“The first time he threw his bottle at me out of the crib” was when Norm Nevin spotted the potential.

“It was a perfect spiral. I thought he was going to be the next Joe Montana.”

A father’s pride can be clouded, though, and at the time, Phil was considered a project. He was 21 years away. Loads of promise, that was the early word out of Placentia, but there were lots of questions, too.

Can he play for John McMullen?

Who’s his agent?

How would you rate his signability?

Becoming the No. 1 draft choice in major league baseball’s amateur draft, circa 1992, is a little like becoming President. Being the best man isn’t what it takes to win anymore.

Being the man with the fewest number of skeletons is.

Nevin was anointed Monday just as much for what he wasn’t as for what he was.

He wasn’t Jeffrey Hammonds, the Stanford outfielder who was the consensus pre-draft nominee as Best Athlete Available, a potential Rickey Henderson. Unfortunately for the Astros, Hammonds knew it, too, and quickly priced himself out of low-rent Houston.

Nevin wasn’t Charles Johnson, either. Johnson, Miami’s bazooka-armed catcher, has easily been the most impressive player at this year’s College World Series, driving in the winning run in both of the Hurricanes’ victories and firing a peg to third base Sunday night that got there so fast, Miami’s third baseman was too awestruck to make the tag.

Johnson, however, is afflicted with Steve Boras Syndrome, named after the player agent whose very presence causes general managers to break out in hives. When you draft Johnson, you draft Boras as well, which was enough to prompt all active 26 big league clubs to pass on him before the fledgling Florida Marlins, not knowing any better, took the hook at slot No. 28.

The Astros, who could be sold, or sold out, at any minute by their skinflint owner John McMullen, had to go bargain shopping. They lost their No. 1 pick last year, the sixth overall selection in the draft, when Florida pitcher John Burke said he’d rather re-enroll than agree to Houston’s skimpy bonus offer of $360,000.

Once burned, twice warned, the Astros did some fact-checking on Nevin.

Fact: Nevin is represented by Newport Beach’s Michael Watkins, who is about as personable and agreeable as the player agent breed gets.

Fact: Nevin, though not a franchise player, is a solid talent, with no glaring weakness, who plays a high-demand position (third base) and is indiscriminate about where he plays it. “I’m looking forward to playing in the Dome,” Nevin actually told the Astros over the phone Monday.

Fact: Watkins and Nevin know their place. “There was not a Brien Taylor in this draft,” Watkins said. “There was not a Ben McDonald, an Andy Benes, a Ken Griffey Jr. Drafts are cyclical and no one stood out in this draft. But when you look at Phil’s numbers, they are as good as anyone’s in the country.”

Conclusion: If the Astros weighed in with, say, a sub-, sub-, sub-Brien Tayloresque offer of $675,000, Nevin just might be amenable to it.

Reportedly, Nevin and the Astros have already agreed to such terms and will sign the papers just as soon as Cal State Fullerton completes business here.

“The Houston Astros had a job to do,” said Tom Mooney, the Houston scout dispatched to Omaha for Monday’s news conference. “After what happened to us last year, we wanted to get a player who wants to play for the Houston Astros--and will sign.”

Those Astros do drive a hard bargain.

“We did not make the decision on ‘Who can we sign the cheapest?’ ” Mooney wanted to point out. “(But) you know Houston is Houston. We’re a small-market club. We’re just trying to do the best we can.”

Nevin, then, became the Best Affordable Athlete--and the Astros certainly have done worse. Scouts project Nevin the major leaguer to hit around .270, average 15 to 20 home runs a season and play a reliable third base, particularly on Astroturf.

“If you compare them physically,” Mooney said, “you’d call Phil a stronger Kelly Gruber. He’s a Steve Buechele type of guy, judging from his arm strength and the kind of hitter he is.

“We’re not thinking of him as a .340 hitter who’ll steal 40 bases. That’s not what he brings to the table. But he represents our No. 1 need: power hitting. We’re losing games, 1-0 and 2-1, in 13 innings.”

Nevin was a late comer, as No. 1 draftees go. After a disappointing sophomore season (he slumped from 14 home runs in 1990 to three in ‘91) and getting kicked off Team USA because of “an attitude problem,” Nevin began 1992 as a borderline Top 20 prospect.

Fullerton Coach Augie Garrido devised an off-season workout program for Nevin: Bulk up and chill out. Blast hanging curveballs, not umpires. Throw baseballs, not batting helmets.

“Phil needed to modify his behavior and react to things properly,” Garrido said. “At the same time, he was trying to be coach, general manager, owner and chief of umpire. He wanted to wear all the hats.

“We told him to keep it simple and just be a baseball player. And, he did make the adjustment.”

How soon did Garrido notice?

“Oh, about 15 minutes ago,” he deadpanned.

Garrido and his coaching staff saw where Nevin was headed and, in Nevin’s words, “it wasn’t in the right direction. They sat me down and pointed me in the right direction.”

All the way to Houston they led him. It may not be the promised land, but it is a land where promises can be fulfilled rather quickly.

“We’re not the ’27 Yankees,” Mooney noted. “If he can play, we’ll find a place for him.”

Nevin can play. And best of all, as far as the Astros are concerned, he can sign his name on the dotted line.

Nevin Chosen No. 1

The Houston Astros made Phil Nevin, Cal State Fullerton’s third baseman, the top pick in Monday’s baseball’s amateur draft. The 21-year-old El Dorado High graduate is the first from Orange County to be the No. 1 choice.

Height: 6-2

Weight: 180

Bats: Right

Throws: Right

Hometown: Placentia

Cal State Fullerton Statistics

AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB 1990 .358 59 240 59 86 12 5 14 52 14 1991 .335 56 230 51 77 19 3 3 46 18 1992* .398 57 206 68 82 18 0 21 81 6 Totals .362 172 676 178 245 45 8 38 179 38

* When he drove in six runs against Florida State in last Friday’s first College World Series game, it tied his Titan best set May 6, 1990, against UC Santa Barbara.

* Drafted in 1989 by the Dodgers, he turned down a $100,000-plus offer to accept a baseball/football scholarship to Fullerton.

* He made all 69 of his extra-point attempts in his three-year Titan football career and added 31 field goals, including a pair of 52-yarders. Source: Cal State Fullerton