Daniel Nava was a key cog in the machine that produced a World Series championship for the Boston Red Sox in 2013. In 134 games played, Nava posted a .303 average and a .385 on-base percentage, smacking 139 hits to go along with 12 homers and 66 RBIs.
Yet 2014 has been a different story for the Red Sox outfielder, and he is paying the price for his lack of production.
Nava struggled in spring training and got off to a slow start in April, hitting just .149 in his first 75 at-bats before being demoted to Triple-A Pawtucket on April 23. While he was recalled a month later to take the place of the injured Shane Victorino, Nava believes it was just a matter of time before he worked off the rust.
“I wasn’t as comfortable as I wanted to be (in spring training), but sometimes you just aren’t,” Nava said, via WEEI.com. “It was just unfortunate then that that’€™s how things started in the season. I like to think that I would’ve got things going in the right direction on a personal note, but…I don’€™t think the team expected things to start the way that they did.”
While the Red Sox’s struggles may have contributed to their short leash with Nava, the 31-year-old knows he will have to get his bat going if he hopes to cement a spot in Boston’s lineup.
“It was just frustrating that things weren’t clicking as quickly as I wanted to, but baseball’€™s a sport in which sometimes you can have extended periods of frustration and things not going your way,” Nava said.
