A year after million-dollar payday vanished, Jacob Nix set for MLB draft

Bob Nightengale | USA TODAY Sports

SAN DIEGO - A year ago, Jacob Nix was strolling around downtown Houston, proudly wearing his new Astros cap, trying to figure out what he was going to buy with his $1.5 million signing bonus.

The signing bonus, verbally agreed upon by his representatives and the Astros, suddenly disappeared.

The college scholarship to UCLA, offered by the school and readily accepted, was yanked by NCAA officials.

Nix was a pitcher without a home.

Nix, an innocent bystander in a dispute during last year's Major League Baseball Draft, is now set to try it again, anxiously sitting at home in Los Alamitos, Calif., with no place to go.

"Last year pretty much sucked,'' Nix told USA TODAY Sports. "I was literally in the wrong place and the wrong time. It was a bad situation. The whole year was pretty difficult for myself and for my family.

"I weeded a lot of people out of my life, friends who I didn't trust. So would just go to the gym every day and work all of the anger out. I stayed positive. Even now, I've got to think everything happened for a reason.''

It's just that Nix, 19, is still trying to wrap his head around that reason.

Nix, a 6-4, 225-pound right-hander who spent four months pitching at the IMG Academy during his layoff, certainly will be the most sympathetic figure in next week's draft.

Here he was, agreeing to that $1.5 million bonus, flying with his family to Houston for his physical and press conference. He was going to be introduced with Brady Aiken, the No. 1 pick in the draft, and good friend from their time together on the 2013 USA Baseball team.

Yet, as he and his family were walking into the lobby of the downtown Houston hotel, Aiken and his family were checking out.

Hours of uncertainty turned to days. Days turned to weeks. Aiken, it turned out, flunked his physical with a small tear in his elbow. The Astros, alarmed by the result, no longer were willing to give Aiken his $6.5 million signing bonus, which was still $1.4 million less than his $7.9 million slot money. They eventually offered $5 million, but Aiken didn't bother to counter-offer.

The Astros were portrayed as the villains. They were the ones who told Aiken they were going to sign him, and as long as Aiken signed, they could use the slotted savings for Nix. The Astros now realize they made the mistake of bringing both players in at once, never imagining Aiken's MRI would reveal a partial tear.

Now, with the Astros losing Aiken and their slot amount from the draft pool, they no longer had the money to pay Nix his $1.5 million. The only way the Astros could still give Nix that amount is by sacrificing two future first-round draft picks. They Astros offered about $620,000, the highest permitted without penalty, but Nix declined, believing a deal was a deal.

He simply couldn't come to grips with taking almost a $900,000 pay cut.

The next thing Nix knew, he no longer was an Astro. Two months later, he discovered his college eligibility may be gone too. He drove to the UCLA campus to move into his dorm room, but was told to return home until the NCAA decided whether he was eligible.

"I had my heart set on UCLA at the start,'' Nix said. "Then, I had my heart set on the Astros. Then, UCLA again.''

Then, absolute heartbreak.

Nix returned to his parents' home, but instead of feeling sorry for himself, vowed vengeance.

He developed a spike curveball he never had, refined a changeup, increased his fastball to 95-97 mph, and became a complete pitcher.

Scouts and talent evaluators believe that after being drafted in the fifth round a year ago, he'll now be drafted in the late first round or at least early in the second round.

"As terrible a situation it was at time,'' says Nix, "maybe it will turn out to be best thing. It made me a different pitcher, and a better person all around.

"Last year, to be quite honest, I didn't know how to pitch. I just threw hard. That was the best part of my down time, learning how to pitch.

"Maybe most of all, I'm a whole lot more mature.''

Rather than launch his professional career, Nix found himself in the middle of two disputes - with the Astros and the NCAA. The latter ruled he compromised his amateur status by enlisting the Major League Baseball Players' Association in a grievance against the Astros.

"I probably could have kept fighting it,'' Nix said of the NCAA's ruling, "but the longer it went on, the more issues came up. It just seemed more and more unlikely.''

Nix, with the MLBPA leading the way, wound up reaching a confidential settlement with the Astros that paid him a fraction of his original signing bonus. If nothing else, it enabled him to shell out about $40,000 to attend the IMG Academy in Bradenton. Fla., where he would work out and face junior college and Division III schools.

He stayed in the dorm on campus, and hung out with kids that wanted to be just like him one day, becoming a high pick in the amateur draft. Still, he never acted as if he was better than anyone else, the coaches say. Simply, went about his business as if the 2014 draft never happened.

"From the moment he stepped onto our campus,'' said IMG head coach Nolan Neiman, "he was everything I could have asked for, and more. I couldn't have asked for a better kid, on the field and off the field. He was a great teammate, a great role model, and was always there for our team.

"To be honest, he never even once talked about what happened to him. He was very focused. Really, a perfectionist.

"I hope he gets what he's looking for.''

Really, all Nix wants is an opportunity, just a year later than he envisioned. He showed off his stamina during his 10 starts with IMG, with his fastball no longer dropping to 89-90 mph by the fifth and sixth innings.

IMG pitching coach Justin Zinkovich, who used to work with the Pittsburgh Pirates, says Nix's saga "kind of forced him to grow up and mature maybe a little faster than he wanted to," and says his stuff and work ethic evokes comparisons to Gerrit Cole and A.J. Burnett.

"I hope he gets drafted where he wants,'' Astros GM Jeff Luhnow told USA TODAY Sports, "and gets to where he wants. I really wish him well. Obviously, you never draft a player you don't want to sign, and we really wanted to sign both of them.''

Now, here we are, with Aiken set to again re-enter the draft, this time with a reconstructed elbow, after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He's projected to a top 10 pick, but likely won't sniff the $5 million he last rejected from the Astros. Nix, however, could receive more than the $1.5 million bonus he thought was coming his way a year ago.

Nix, who plans to watch the first round of the draft June 8 from his grandparents' house in Seal Beach, says there are no bitter feelings. He doesn't blame Aiken for not signing, which would have guaranteed Nix's payday, and the two remain friends, even attending a Los Angeles Angels game last week.

He didn't submit the paperwork that would permit the Astros to re-draft him, but he's cool with any of the other 29 teams picking him. Who knows, maybe the St. Louis Cardinals, his favorite team growing up during the Mark McGwire golden years, will be the ones calling his name.

"Whatever happens, I'll be prepared, I know that,'' Nix said. "I'll be just as excited watching the draft as I was a year ago. This isn't the way I thought it would happen, but this year, I'm a lot more positive about things.

"I'm not looking for sympathy. I learned this game is a business, and the business side of baseball got me. At least this time, it won't be my first rodeo.''

Hopefully, his last.

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