Phil Nevin was the Golden Spikes Award-winner as a junior at Cal State Fullerton. He was a College World Series hero, the top pick in the 1992 draft and the heir apparent to Ken Caminiti in Houston.
Seven years later, a 28-year-old Nevin was a back-up catcher in camp with the Angels, his third organization.
“To sum it up to that point, it was an underachievement,” Nevin said recently from his home in Poway. “It was nobody’s fault but my own. I thought I had everything made. I was enjoying that big-league life instead of getting my body ready to play every day.