Josh Reddick Optioned to Pawtucket, Daniel Nava Called Up to Boston

by Ben Buchanan on Jun 12, 2010 1:03 AM EDT in News

Photo by Kelly O'Connor / www.sittingstill.net

What a difference a couple of years can make. At the end of 2007, Daniel Nava was finishing his first season of independent ball in the Golden League. He had gone undrafted out of Santa Clara (where he had been cut earlier in his career), and had to rely on the independent leagues to even get a small shot at making it back to associated baseball.

Now, after spending a year-and-a-half working his way quickly through first A+, then AA, and finally AAA ball in the Red Sox' farm system, Soxprospects.com is reporting that Daniel Nava will finally make his major league debut. He will replace Josh Reddick on the roster as he's returned to Pawtucket.

Nava's ascent through the system was fast and impressive, not really struggling at any level. Though his numbers at AAA have not been as outlandish as they were in the lower levels, Nava's line of .294/.364/.492 is still pretty impressive for someone first seeing AAA pitching.

Good luck to Nava. It's been a long road getting here--hopefully he sticks around for a long while.

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Comments

Wow. They're giving the kid a chance.

Tip of the hat to the FO. Hope he has a blast.

by went9 on Jun 12, 2010 1:18 AM EDT reply actions

Hmmm

Daniel Nava Splits:
Versus LHP: .268/.305/.446
Versus RHP: .305/.385/.511
His LD% is 30.3%!!!
Tomorrow starter is the right handed Joe Blanton: We may see our boy in LF. Yay!

Father and son...Boston
Twitter: @Radiohix

by radiohix on Jun 12, 2010 1:26 AM EDT reply actions

He's played the wall in Portland

so it should help take some of the mystery out of it.
He’ll never get to sleep tonight.

by went9 on Jun 12, 2010 1:42 AM EDT up reply actions

I wonder what Dmac's splits are.

Hopefully there will be no more Hall in the OF. Of Dmac’s LHP split isn’t better, then I say Nava should play every day.

"man, this team they just suck so bad"- gizmosandy
DFA Bogar
Twitter: @BoldandBrash

by BoldandBrash on Jun 12, 2010 11:00 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Beautiful story

Best of luck Daniel!

Brett Anderson is the Truth. Brett Anderson is divine presence. Brett Anderson is eternal life. Brett Anderson is within you. Brett Anderson is here. Brett Anderson is Now.

by Frederick0220 on Jun 12, 2010 1:43 AM EDT reply actions

I'm really excited.

Glad to see Nava get a chance and one can only hope he is in the top end of debuts this year.

"We Believe" - Rudy Fernandez

by TheGreatMon on Jun 12, 2010 2:14 AM EDT reply actions

So excited.

This guy deserves it.

by ThePanda on Jun 12, 2010 2:22 AM EDT reply actions

thank god!

let’s see what he’s got.

by wolf9309 on Jun 12, 2010 2:35 AM EDT reply actions

Francona's going to like another switch hitter for writing the line up.

Saturday’s line up anyone?

Scutaro 6 R
Pedroia 4 R
VMart 2 S
Youk 3 R
Ortiz DH L
Beltre 5 R
Drew 9 L
Cameron 8 R
Nava 7 S

Or if Tek catches Daisuke:

Scutaro 6 R
Pedroia 4 R
Ortiz DH L
Youk 3 R
Drew 9 L
Beltre 5 R
VTek 2 S
Cameron 8 R
Nava 7 S

Nava doesn’t have the speed to bat lead off in a pinch down the line, but he does have the OBP and plate discipline to maybe fill in on Scutaro’s day off. Love to have the kid get his first hit in the bigs out of the way quickly….even wrap one around the Pesky just for the history :-) Excitement!

by went9 on Jun 12, 2010 3:16 AM EDT reply actions

And Francona goes with the Varitek line up,

Minus Cameron, add McDonald batting 8th playing CF.
Let’s go Nava, clap, clap, clapclapclap.

by went9 on Jun 12, 2010 1:02 PM EDT up reply actions

They should have called up Nava not Reddick last week

I don’t understand why Reddick was called up in the first place.
His avg was below .200 and obp was brutal.
At the same time, Nava’s plate discipline is fantastic.
I’m not sure he’ll hit .300 in the majors but he’ll see more balls and draw walks with some pops.

by hmzd on Jun 12, 2010 5:38 AM EDT reply actions

I think it was because

Reddick is a good CF. I think at that point, they weren’t 100% sure that Cameron’s health would hold up playing back to back days in CF. Plus he had been turning it around. Nava seems great, but I would’ve expected him instead of Darnell McDonald (I guess they just don’t want to get rid of him)

by wolf9309 on Jun 12, 2010 9:58 AM EDT up reply actions

+1.

While Cameron was out, it was more important to make sure to have people able to cover CF. Now that Cameron is on the mend, they can bring up the (currently) better bat.

Fenway: "An alternate and better universe, disguised as a ballpark." --Thomas Boswell

by lone1c on Jun 12, 2010 10:05 AM EDT up reply actions

Sounds about right. Still, Theo burnt one of Reddick’s options.

"Ninety percent [of my salary] I'll spend on good times, women, and Irish whiskey. The other ten percent I'll probably waste."
-Tug McGraw

by BTLove on Jun 12, 2010 12:15 PM EDT up reply actions

Reddick's option had already been burnt in April.

USG

by Ben Buchanan on Jun 12, 2010 12:25 PM EDT up reply actions

I still have faith that Reddick will turn out to be decent MLB talent.

He’s a good CF, baserunner and he has pop in his bat and the only thing missing is plate discipline.

So he needs steady at bats and lots of them. In AAA for now. Not as a a patch player in the MLB for an injury riddled OF player-swapfest.

Nava already has plate discipline and is a decent LF. With Cameron healthy enough to play CF, this is the right move.

by mmmmm on Jun 12, 2010 1:13 PM EDT up reply actions

Nava's an interesting story.

I’m currently reading Dirk Hayhurst’s “The Bullpen Gospels” about what life is like coming up through the levels of minor leagues (one of the all-time greatest baseball books – no kidding) and I can understand what Nava’s gone through to get here. Good luck.

by dsharp on Jun 12, 2010 10:40 AM EDT reply actions