How Missouri State OF Spencer Nivens almost got cut and then turned into an MLB prospect
Missouri State head coach Keith Guttin was straight up with Spencer Nivens heading into the fall of his redshirt freshman year — there was only one spot open and he was going to have to beat out three others if he was going to make the Bears' baseball team.
"I put that on my mirror," Nivens said. "I just had to use that as motivation every day to come in and work."
Nivens literally put words on his mirror for him to look at every morning. The star high school player at Rock Bridge who would have owned every offensive record if the pandemic didn't cancel his senior season was suddenly facing the possibility of getting cut.
Instead of complaining or deciding to hit the transfer portal as so many would in this day of college baseball, Nivens decided to take the challenge on and prove why he belonged.
A season and a half later, Nivens' bet on himself has paid off and he's been the Bears' most productive hitter on a team that is coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance. He was named a Freshman All-American and is gaining MLB Draft buzz as a left-handed hitter.
More: What makes Missouri State baseball's Zack Stewart 'rare' in the eyes of Keith Guttin
"He never blinked," Guttin said. "He could have very, very easily said 'screw you, I'll go somewhere else' and that wouldn't have been a good thing for Missouri State. He just said 'OK, I'll compete' and he clearly won it. The rest is history."
Nivens had many supporters outside of himself who believed he belonged at the college level. His head coach at Rock Bridge knew that he was a special player all along.
Rock Bridge head coach Justin Towe considers Nivens to be his "third son" as a family friend who has watched him since a young age. Knowing how great Nivens was during his three seasons of high school ball and before, he knew that he didn't only have the skill but he would be strong enough mentally to persevere.
More: Nixa's Wyatt Vincent didn't become one of the nation's top baseball prospects by accident
"He doesn't have to get too high and he doesn't have to get too low — he's pretty steady whether it's on or off the field," Towe said. "He's a player that people gravitate towards because has a great personality. I think that all plays into his ability to do what he's done the last two years. The biggest thing for hitters is that when something starts to go bad and you have those prolonged slumps. He doesn't have those and I think he understands 'Hey, I'm going to do this and I don't need to stress about it. It's going to happen,' and then it does."
Upon learning of the competition for the final roster spot, Nivens spoke to his family while also communicating with Towe who played baseball with Nivens' father, Matt Nivens, at the University of Missouri in the 90s. They questioned whether the outfielder should enter the portal or stay at Missouri State and compete.
Nivens didn't take long to decide what he wanted to do.
"In the end, it was just said 'I'm gonna do this and if I can't here, where else am I going to get it done?'" Towe said. "He bet on himself. From talking to a professional court, that's one of the big things they see and that's one of the big attractions to a kid like that. He believes in himself and he bet on himself and he won and he continues to win. You just don't see that a lot in today's youth."
More: Rogersville baseball's Missouri State commits make it the most dangerous team in the area
Nivens still had to approach the fall of 2021 like he wasn't going to have a spot on the Bears' roster unless he changed his ways. He started out by adopting a routine that began with making his bed in the morning.
Varied by day, Nivens will then go to class or he'll find his way into the batting cages. He made sure to get into the training facility early to go through different hitters' routines and personalized drills. Somedays he didn't feel like lifting but he'd remember some of the quotes on his mirror that would push him to get through it.
Although he thought he was playing well enough to earn the job, Nivens never allowed himself to get comfortable and he continued to work. He didn't know it but it didn't take Guttin long to realize who was going to win the final roster spot.
"While watching him in the fall, I said that it was no longer about winning a spot and that it was about where we were going to hit him in the order," Guttin said. "He came in and just hit in the exhibition game, he hit in the inter squad games and he made the transition from high school infielder to outfielder and he became a very good defensive outfielder."
More: Why Adam Wainwright says he'll return to Springfield after his final pitching appearance
By the end of the fall, Nivens was called into Guttin's office and he felt like he was going to throw up. Months of nerves and extra swings in the cage came down to those moments when Guttin and the coaches had already made up their minds long before.
Once they told Nivens the news, he said he felt like 1,000 pounds were lifted off his shoulders but he didn't allow himself to get satisfied. He made the roster and it then became time to get to work so he could crack the lineup.
"It was a little scary," Nivens said. "I went out there with no worries and I had nothing to lose. That kind of changed my mindset, not only towards that fall but towards my career as a whole. You have to play every day like it's your last because you never know what might happen."
Nivens batted third on opening day and started all 60 games primarily as a leadoff hitter during his redshirt-freshman year after winning the spot. He was named a Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American along with a second-team All-Missouri Valley Conference nod when he hit .346 with 24 extra-base hits including 11 home runs. He hit a home run and went 1 for 2 with three runs scored in the Bears' memorable NCAA Tournament comeback win against Grand Canyon in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Nivens attracted MLB Draft buzz over the offseason and is projected to go in the first 10 rounds come July. He's continued to be the Bears' top hitter while batting .369 with 10 home runs after Thursday's win over Belmont. He ranks No. 1 in the MVC in slugging percentage and total bases and second in batting average and hits.
"I'd say we're glad we kept him," Guttin said. "It was a bad decision to put him in that situation but he earned his way. In baseball, he's got what we call 'makeup.' He's got all the intangibles."
Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or Twitter at @WyattWheeler_NL.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Spencer Nivens worked for Missouri State spot, MLB Draft status
