Three Red Sox success stories on patience and perseverance

The Scrapper

There is an old baseball term and it reverberates around the use of bush as a player is a busher or from the bush leagues. Calling a player a “busher” was the ultimate insult – a baseball “F” bomb. The minors were defined as the bush leagues and that still exists, but the lowest you can go is independent league baseball that is comprised of players who never have a snowball’s chance of making it or in some instances a veteran attempting to show a spark of survival. But baseball scouts look everywhere for talent

The one player that independent league players should look longingly at for hope, inspiration, or to just hang on a little longer is Daniel Nava.

How difficult was it for Nava?  He didn’t make his college team (Santa Clara) and became their equipment manager. Eventually, he moved on and then back to Santa Clara on a full scholarship. When the baseball draft came Nava was ignored and that meant Indy ball.

Nava impressed and the Red Sox signed him for the minor league journey that eventually brought him to Boston. The rest is Red Sox history – the dynamic grand slam in his first at-bat, a .242 season, and his reward – back to the minors. But not for long. Nava roared back in 2012 (.243) and in 2013 (.303) and part of a World Series team.

Nava has moved on from Boston and has hung around hitting .301 in limited duty with the 2017 Phillies. In 2019, Nava closed the circle and returned to Indy ball with the Kansas City T-Bones. Nava was released recently but has not retired.

Nava had other company in Boston from the Indy during 2015 in lefty Rich Hill, but Hill had a respectable career in the majors before reinventing himself in Indy ball and making it back big time with near $60 million  in earnings after returning to Boston in 2015. So, the bottom of the bushes may mostly be weeds but the occasional orchid can be found.