One of the more versatile players that the Padres ever had, Phil Nevin played a bounty of Games for San Diego at Third, First, Rightfield, and at Catcher, but it looked for a while like Nevin would never become an everyday player in the Majors.
Nevin was a former Number One Pick, taken by the Astros in 1992, but they soured on him, and he was traded to Detroit in 1995, and two years later to Anaheim, with neither place seeing Nevin ascend to an everyday player. The Angels sent him south to San Diego, and finally, he began to meet expectations.
Nevin had 24 Home Runs in 1999 and increased it to 31 in 2000, where he also had his first .300 season, with a .303 Batting Average. He followed that with the best season of his career, with career highs in Hits (167), Home Runs (41), RBIs (126), and the three Slash Line components (.306/.388/.588). Bevin was an All-Star that year, was 21st in MVP voting, and had his third consecutive year with a Slugging Percentage over .500.
Nevin was injured through most of the 2002 and 2003 seasons, and he had a nice comeback year in 2004 (26 HR, 105 RBI, .289 BA), but he was getting older and was deemed expendable. He was traded to Texas during the 2005 Season, leaving San Diego with 156 Home Runs, 573 RBIs, and had a Slash Line of .288/.359/.503.
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