Former US National Team player and current Los Angeles Angels manager Phil Nevin says he's excited for all his players who will be lining up to participate in the World Baseball Classic, which starts on Tuesday, the Orange County Register reported.
Two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani will play for Japan, slugger Mike Trout will star for the United States, David Fletcher will represent Italy, Patrick Sandoval is on Mexico's roster and Luis Rengifo while Jose Quijada will play for Venezuela. Gio Urshuela will line up for Colombia, Jaime Barria is on Panama's 30-man list, Carlos Estevez will join the Dominican Republic and Zach Weiss will play for Israel.
"I've said it from the beginning; I'm excited for all of them," Nevin said. "I encouraged those who were kind of on the bubble, deciding whether to go. Go play. You get to represent your country."
Ohtani hasn't played for Japan since the inaugural WBSC Premier12 in 2015.
"I'm excited to watch Ohtani as anyone would be," added Nevin. "I'm excited to watch him in these games and pitch in these games. I told him to go have fun, we'll miss him, but we'll be excited to have him back. If he hits a homer, I'll probably send some funny emoji to him. Or whatever those little videos are that you guys send."
Nevin tried out for the United States Baseball National Teams in 1990 and 1991 before making the team for the Barcelona 1992 Olympics. The US finished fourth, but manager Ron Fraser talked about Nevin as "an excellent player and student of the game".
"Wearing that uniform was pretty special,” Nevin said.
Nevin, 52 today, played baseball and football at Cal State University Fullerton. He became a baseball star in 1992 when he was named the College World Series Most Outstanding player and won the Golden Spikes Award.
The Houston Astros drafted him as No. 1 overall and made his MLB debut in 1995. He was traded to the Detroit Tigers after 18 games. He also played for the Anaheim Angels, San Diego Padres, Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs and Minnesota Twins. He retired after the 2006 season and had 1,217 games, the most (483) at third base. Nevin also played at first base, catcher and all three outfield positions and was the designated hitter 118 times. He had 208 career home runs and a .270 career batting average.
His coaching career began in 2008 in the independent Golden Baseball League. He worked in the Detroit Tigers farm system from 2010 to 2013. He then managed at the Triple-A level for the Arizona Diamondbacks through the 2016 season. The San Francisco Giants named him their third base coach in 2017. He served in the same position for the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Angels. He became the Angels' interim manager in July 2022 and was confirmed for the 2023 season.
