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 4'8 and 70 lbs. in his freshman year in high school and grew to 5'5 and 150 lbs. 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.