Daniel Nava

Nava became only the fourth player to have hit a grand slam in his first at-bat, joining Bill Duggleby in 1898, Jeremy Hermida in 2005, and Kevin Kouzmanoff in 2006.

Nava became only the second player, after Kouzmanoff, to do so on the first pitch of his major-league career, and the first player in Major League Baseball history to achieve a grand slam on his first-ever MLB career at-bat while in interleague play.

His second at-bat, an inning later, was also with the bases loaded, but he struck out, losing the opportunity to become the only player to hit a grand slam in his first two at bats.

Bill Lefebvre was the only other player in Red Sox history to hit a home run on the first pitch thrown to him in the big leagues, doing so June 10, 1938.

Due to his outstanding debut, Nava continued to start for the Red Sox.

On June 17, he had his first three-hit game, two of those hits being doubles, against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Nava reached base safely in his first 13 MLB games.

Nava was sent back to Triple-A Pawtucket on July 22 to make room for Hermida, who came off the DL. He was recalled to Boston on August 2 to replace Mike Cameron, who was placed on the DL, then optioned two days later to make room for Ellsbury.

Daniel James Nava (born February 22, 1983) is an American former professional baseball outfielder.

He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Angels, Kansas City Royals, and Philadelphia Phillies.

Nava is only the fourth player in MLB history to hit a grand slam in his first major league at bat and the second to do it on the first pitch.

Nava was born in Redwood City, California.

He played baseball at St. Francis High School in Mountain View, California and received his psychology degree from Santa Clara University.

He was 4ft 8in and 70 lb in his freshman year in high school and grew to 5ft 5in and 150 lb by his senior year.

After an opportunity to walk-on to the Santa Clara University baseball team, he failed to make the team as a player and became the team equipment manager.

He left Santa Clara after two years because he could no longer afford the tuition.

He then enrolled in the College of San Mateo, a junior college.

He tried out for the baseball team on the encouragement of an old friend he happened to run into at a gym.

While at the College of San Mateo, he became a Junior College All-American.

Later Santa Clara wanted him back and eventually offered him a full scholarship.

He had a .395 batting average with a .494 on-base percentage (OBP) in his lone season with the Broncos, both tops in the West Coast Conference (WCC), and earned first-team All-WCC honors.

He accrued 15 stolen bases without being caught, and he had more walks (31) than strikeouts (29).

When Nava graduated from college, he went undrafted and signed with the Chico Outlaws of the Golden Baseball League.

The Outlaws cut him after a tryout, only to bring him back a year later to fill a void.

In 2007, Nava hit 12 home runs for the Outlaws, with a .371 batting average and a 1.100 on-base plus slugging (OPS).

Nava was named the number one independent league prospect by Baseball America in 2007.

The assistant director of pro scouting for the Boston Red Sox, Jared Porter, recommended the Sox sign Nava from the Chico Outlaws in 2007.

The Red Sox paid the Outlaws $1 for the rights to Nava, with an agreement that the Outlaws would receive an additional $1,499 if the Red Sox kept Nava after spring training.

In 2008, Nava played for the Class A-Advanced Lancaster JetHawks and hit .341 with 10 home runs and 59 runs batted in (RBIs) in 85 games.

His OPS was .948.

In 2009, he hit .339 at the Class A-Advanced Salem Red Sox before being called up to the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs, where he batted .364 with four home runs and a 25-to-12 walk-to-strikeout ratio.

His OPS was .991.

In 2010, Nava spent two months in Triple-A with the Pawtucket Red Sox.

At that time he was quoted as saying, "I know I have the talent and the ability, and I can keep playing at the next level," he said.

"If I didn't think I could, I would have been like, 'You know what? There's no point.' … I definitely thought I could perform and perform well. That's why I kept on going. Quitting's just not much of an option for me."

Nava made his Major League debut with the Boston Red Sox on June 12, 2010, at Fenway Park as the starting left fielder against the Philadelphia Phillies.

He was called up to help with the team's outfield situation, with Jacoby Ellsbury and Jeremy Hermida on the disabled list (DL) and Josh Reddick optioned to the minor leagues for more playing time.

Taking the advice of Red Sox radio broadcaster Joe Castiglione, who before the game told him to swing as hard as he could on the first pitch because "that's the only first pitch in the majors you'll ever see," Nava did swing at the first pitch he saw and hit a grand slam off Phillies pitcher Joe Blanton into the Red Sox bullpen.

He was the tenth player in Red Sox history to hit a home run in his first plate appearance with the club, the prior being Darnell McDonald on April 20, 2010, against the Texas Rangers.

Creighton Gubanich was the only other player in Red Sox history to hit a grand slam for his first big league hit; however, it was not in Gubanich's first major league at-bat.