Jimmy Morel is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Desert Edge High School for AZPreps365.com

In 2002, in the 25th round of the MLB Amateur Draft the Detroit Tigers selected infielder Daniel Nelson out of Crenshaw high school to come and join their organization.

Nelson was drafted again in 2004 in the 13th round by the St. Louis Cardinals, this time out of Los Angeles Pierce College.

He would spend nine seasons playing baseball, and is now able to take what he has learned and apply it to his high school coaching career.

Nelson across those nine seasons batted a .264 average with a .735 OPS (on-base plus slugging,) which falls just above modern day league average. The average OPS in today's game falls around .710. This theme also continued with his batting average, which in today's game falls around .250.

Arguably, Nelson’s best season came in 2011, where he played in both AA and AAA for the Atlanta Braves and between both leagues with 321 at-bats, he hit for a .284 batting average with a .740 OPS which again is above league average.

When looking at Nelson’s stats it easy to see a player who played solid ball through nine seasons, but Nelson stated that his time playing baseball, “came with a lot of failure, but failure is what you need to become the best version of yourself.”

Nelson now finds himself coaching the varsity baseball team at Desert Edge High School and uses the precious advice he received from climbing up the ranks of the minor leagues to prepare his players for the commitment he endured.

“Instead of asking what I should do to become a better player, I started to ask what did they do to become a better player,” Nelson said on some of the insights and lessons he learned from the coaching staff and players that surrounded him while he went through his baseball career. 

He connected this specific lesson to one of his coaching styles. 

“So, I tell my players when asking questions, instead of asking what they should do, ask what did that person do and how many hours they put in.”

Desert Edge staff speaks highly of Nelson, with athletic director Jason Linn saying, “his experiences in the national ranks have provided great buy-in with our kids,” and also mentions that Nelson has “worked tirelessly to get our baseball student-athletes to see the game from a professional perspective.”

“His major league experience and knowledge of the game are an invaluable asset to the shape of this program,” is just another example of the praise that Nelson received this time coming from Michelle Keanini who is the athletic assistant at Desert Edge.

Nelson’s experience in the MiLB/MLB came with special advice from coaches like Tony La Russa and he mentions how it was a “complete commitment,” but described those said experiences to be, “priceless in my eyes.”