Astros To Interview Phil Nevin…Before Derek Jeter of Course!

After firing manager Bo Porter for reasons no one is quite sure about, the Houston Astros are in the hunt for a new skipper and they may be calling up their old number one draft pick, Phil Nevin. Back in 1992, an Astros scout, Hall of Famer Hal Newhouser scouted Derek Jeter as a 17-year-old high school student, and saw a lot of potential in the young shortstop.

However, the Astros, who had the number one draft pick that year, decided against picking the Kalamazoo native, and instead chose Phil Nevin, a former Golden Spikes Award recipient, and the number one amateur player in the country. After Jeter was selected by the Yankees with the sixth overall pick in the draft, Newhouser retired, ending a 50-year love affair with the game of baseball.

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Nevin would go on to play 12 seasons in the major leagues with the Astros, Tigers, Padres, Angels and Rangers, batting a career .270 with 208 home runs, and 743 RBI, earning one All-Star appearance along the way. He retired after the 2006 season at the age of 35. Of course, Jeter’s career turned out a little different. Now Jeter’s 20-year career in which he averaged a .309 batting average, notched 3461 base hits, hit 260 home runs with 1307 RBI, along with five World Series titles, a Rookie of the Year Award, 14 All-Star selections and five Gold Gloves, is coming to an end.

Jeter’s career coming to a close and Nevin’s possibly restarting, is just another poetic story that baseball always seems to supply. The Astros are looking at many candidates, including fan favorite Craig Biggio, who is hoping for a Hall of Fame induction of his own. Nevin’s career may not have ended up like Jeter’s, but he had a solid big league career which he parlayed into a coaching job in the minors.

He currently manages in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ system with the Reno Aces, and the Astros have recently gained permission to interview him for their vacant manager’s position. If Nevin earns the job will it be a pleasant blast from the past for fans, of just remind them of the club’s big mistake of not drafting a legend named Derek Jeter?