‘This is so special’: Finally reunited on MLB field, Angels manager Phil Nevin, son Tyler reflect on long road
a 10-game suspension for his part in a benches-clearing brawl with the Seattle Mariners, Nevin may find himself game-planning against his son, and become the first manager in five years and just the second in 18 years to face off against his progeny.
But joining John and Luke Farrell and Felipe and Moises Alou in the record books doesn’t bowl Nevin over, not when he attended high school with Bret Boone, brother of Aaron, son of Bob, grandson of Ray. He’s a bit surprised such family affairs don’t happen more often.
What does get the fiery one-time All-Star going is when he hears from an Orioles coach about Tyler’s purposeful work, or his high esteem among teammates. Or when an umpire passes Nevin on the field and says that son of his, that Tyler, is a credit to his profession.
It is then that he realizes Phil Nevin the dad did OK, a sentiment bolstered by Tyler’s happy tears as the two shared a bench in Camden Yards’ home dugout.
“That’s what I’m proud of,” Nevin, 51, said Thursday, 25-year-old Tyler seated to his right. “He’s wanted this his whole life. That’s great, but it’s how he’s gone about it.”
Their on-field reunion has been years in the making and interrupted by fate more than once. Tyler was traded in August 2020 from Colorado to Baltimore, where opportunity was rich. Tyler’s came on May 29, 2021, when he debuted against the Chicago White Sox.
Phil was coaching third base for the New York Yankees and might have obtained a hall pass to see his son’s debut. But Nevin, who was vaccinated, was among a group of Yankees that caught a grim breakthrough case of COVID-19; he missed nearly a month, not to return until early June after losing 20 pounds.
On another occasion, Tyler was optioned back to the minors just before a series with the Yankees. Nevin even hustled down to Baltimore on a Yankees off day after another Tyler call-up, but the transaction was not executed until the next day.
Not since 2019, when Tyler was a Hartford Yard Goat at Class AA and Nevin managed to sneak away for a few games on Yankees off days had he seen him play. It didn’t happen right away here – Tyler wasn’t in Thursday’s lineup, and is batting .185 with two homers in 124 at-bats – but the baseball gods might want Orioles manager Brandon Hyde to put his hand on the scale of fate and put the kid in this weekend.
Even still, Tyler doesn’t need to show out for his dad to know the role he played – or how much Tyler’s achievements mean to him.
“He’s told me this throughout my life,” says Tyler. “We have very good communication between us. That’s why this is so special – our relationship is that close. It’s something we came up through together.
“It’s kind of our mission, in a way. To hear that, it hits home every time.”
Nevin saw the mission in his son from an early age, when Nevin was slugging home runs for the Padres – he slugged a career-best 41 in 2001 – and Tyler was clad in kid-sized uniforms, always watching from the stands, never from the kids’ room set aside for family. He says Tyler was a model child, save for when Phil or wife Kristin informed him he could not attend games on school nights and a mild tantrum would ensue.
SPORTS NEWSLETTER:Get the latest news and analysis in your inbox
MLB ALL-STAR GAME:The most deserving starters based on a full season’s worth of stats
On the field, when Nevin’s playing career was long over and the scouts and college coaches suddenly began coming for his son, Nevin was accustomed to seeing the warts. You judge your own more harshly, he says, until his skepticism slowly waned and the Rockies chose him with the 38th overall pick in the 2015 draft.
Still, envisioning Tyler as a big leaguer was challenging, until Tyler was playing and Phil coaching in the 2018 Arizona Fall League. Suddenly, Tyler was shoulder to shoulder with Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, Pete Alonso and Luis Robert.