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.