He’s an all-star with the New York Mets. But in Nipomo, Jeff McNeil is a ‘normal dude’
Playing major league baseball wasn’t on Jeff McNeil’s radar in his first three years at Nipomo High School. That’s because McNeil had his mind set on another sport.
McNeil planned to play professional golf with close friends Brian Walker and Rory Doll, who both went on to play golf in college.
He didn’t join his Nipomo High baseball team until his senior year after playing three years of varsity golf. Both sports take place in the spring, and he had to pick one.
But his nontraditional path to the majors couldn’t have worked out any better.
McNeil was an all-star in his first full season with the New York Mets, hitting .318 last season with 75 RBIs and 23 home runs. He finished fourth in the National League in hitting.
The 27-year-old still lives in Nipomo in the offseason, where he has close ties to the community. He was born in Santa Barbara.
While caddying for his best friend Brian Walker at the Straight Down Fall Classic in San Luis Obispo earlier this month, McNeil described life as a pro baseball player and becoming a star in New York City over the past two years.
“It’s awesome,” he said. “Everything about it. Playing in front of all those people. The nice hotels. The travel. But it’s stressful, too. It’s a grind, and it’s a really long season.”
Despite the fame, those who know him best say McNeil’s personality hasn’t changed, even with the professional spotlight in New York, a $567,714 salary in 2019 and the potential for a big payday in the future.
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Last year, McNeil bought cleats for the entire Nipomo High baseball team and has donated toward the football stadium scoreboard. In the offseason, he likes to work out with the Nipomo team.
“He’s a normal dude when he comes back here,” said Samm Spears, the Titans’ baseball coach. “He’ll talk about what it’s like playing in the majors. But he’s a normal guy, not a big, famous big league all-star.”
Rise through the ranks to the New York Mets
McNeil has come a long way from his years as Nipomo High, where he hit .446 in 2010 with seven home runs an played alongside his younger brother, Ryan McNeil, a star pitcher and third-round draft pick of the Chicago Cubs, who was a sophomore that year.
Jeff McNeil had hopes of earning a college golf scholarship out of Nipomo High. But he also played for summer baseball teams such as the California Wahoos in Santa Maria led by former Cleveland Indians scout Vince Sagisi, who encouraged his baseball career.
When he was 15, McNeil also played on a Babe Ruth team that went to the state championship. It was coached by the father of his good friend, Rory Doll, who also played on the team.
“I know my story is unique,” McNeil said. “I wanted to play both, really. But I played baseball in the summer outside of high school.”
Conversations with his family and a desire to join his brother in Jeff’s senior year helped McNeil make the transition to focusing on baseball in his final year of high school.
“Not to discredit all that goes into pro golf, but Jeff chose baseball, I think, because he felt like he could always go back to golf if he had to,” Walker said. “Because he was recruited to play baseball, he had a window to go for that.”
McNeil got a scholarship offer from Cal State Northridge, after Sagisi alerted the school to McNeil’s abilities. But he ultimately landed at Long Beach State on a scholarship, where he hit .348 in his junior year, earning him a 12th-round draft selection from the Mets.
McNeil toiled in the minors for six years while overcoming a sports hernia surgery and a hip labral tear, undergoing months of rehab.
When he got the call-up to the majors in July 2018, it was a dream come true.
Suddenly, McNeil didn’t have to work construction jobs in the offseason or eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on long minor league bus rides anymore, he told the SportsNet New York television station in an August 2019 interview.
“I think it changes the day you get called up,” McNeil told the station. “Financially, it’s awesome. You get to play in front of 40,000 people every day instead of two (thousand). Travel in the minors sucks.”
He said the recognition he gets in New York City can be kind of nice, and photos on his Instagram show him in major league stadiums, locker rooms and on TV getting interviewed, offering a glimpse into the glamour behind the scenes.
But it also can be a lot to deal with as a public figure. People will recognize him and invade his privacy, he admits.
“I go home, and back home I’m just Jeff,” McNeil told SportsNet New York. “They know I play baseball, but I’m from a small town and we’re all close. That’s what I like about where I’m from. I’m not a huge deal there, which is nice.”
McNeil told The Tribune that playing baseball at the major league level requires the right blend of skill, physical strength and a solid mental approach.
“You’re always adjusting to what the pitchers are trying to do,” McNeil said. “They’re making adjustments on you. And you have to understand what they’re doing.”
McNeil’s small-town roots help shape him
McNeil’s friends describe him as a regular guy who was always very self-confident in a good way.
That hasn’t changed.
He always loved competition, they recalled, whether it was playing pool, ping-pong, golf or baseball.
Doll, now a professional at Monarch Dunes golf course, said his friend is the “most competitive person I’ve ever met,” and when he visits, they often come up with games or challenges.
McNeil recently even challenged Doll to a chipping competition. McNeil held the club one-handed because he’s still recovering from surgery on a broken wrist after being hit by a pitch in September.
“He has always been a multi-sport athlete,” Doll said. “When he hits one of his high, towering home runs to right field, with the bat over the right shoulder, I can see where the golf comes in. I joke with him that it looks like a golf swing.”
Spears said the Nipomo High team was thrilled to get to work out with McNeil last offseason, when they fielded ground balls and took swings in the batting cage.
“He connects so well with the kids,” Spears said. “Because of his success, they have a genuine interest in paying attention to Major League Baseball, not just playing. They’re constantly texting me about what’s Jeff’s doing.”
Last year, the players got a surprise one day when they were greeted by cameramen from a New York sports show shooting a segment on McNeil, Spears said.
“They thought they were coming out for regular practice,” Spears said. “Then the cameras showed up, and I had them shag balls and be a part of it. I told them, ‘You’ll be on TV,’ and a lot of them were just super stoked.”
Spears said both McNeil and his brother have been invaluable in influencing Nipomo’s “engagement in baseball.” Ryan McNeil, has played six years in the minors and is making a run at continuing his minor league career.
“It’s been a huge blessing for us,” Spears said. “It has been nothing but great for the kids. Jeff made it and could stay in New York and go to Florida in the offseason, but he comes back. And that’s great for the community.”
Becoming a pro golfer was an option
Baseball may seem like a no-brainer now, but McNeil was focused on golf throughout much of high school.
“All of us wanted to be PGA tour golfers,” Walker said. “Even in Jeff’s senior year, he wanted to play golf and baseball. But the coach said it wouldn’t be fair for him to play golf if other guys were making every practice and he was just showing up for matches.”
As a member of the golf team, McNeil helped Nipomo win the league championship as a sophomore in 2008.
In 2009, he was invited to play in the 2009 U.S. Junior Amateur Golf Championship, which was won by Jordan Spieth before his days as a major champion and PGA Tour star.
“A recent news article said that Jeff is the best golfer in the major leagues, and I believe it,” Doll said. “He’s basically scratch. I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes a run at being a pro golfer when he’s done with baseball.”
Walker said that one of McNeil’s strengths in both baseball and in golf is that he doesn’t overthink his approach to executing plays.
“He’s super gritty, and he’s just a gamer,” Walker said. “He has full dedication to succeeding at competitive things. He also wears his heart on his sleeve. If he has a bad game, he doesn’t want to talk to anybody.”
McNeil still plays as much golf as he can, including in tournaments, though he’s had to lay off because of the wrist injury. He wanted to play in his first Straight Down golf tournament, but that will have to wait until next year.
“People who aren’t from here don’t get it,” Walker said. “But that tournament is like our Master’s because it’s the only local tournament where PGA pros play. We did everything we could to volunteer or caddy. We’d have killed to be playing these greens back in high school.”
At the end of Walker’s round on Saturday, McNeil said it’s good to be home.
“It’s a lot of fun to come back here and see a lot of familiar faces,” McNeil said. “It’s great to be back. I have a lot of memories here, playing golf with guys here in high school and getting to caddy for my best friend (at the Straight Down Fall Classic), Brian Walker. I love golf and coming back.”
This story was originally published November 21, 2019 at 4:45 AM.
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