Steverson was born in Los Angeles, California, and attended Culver City High School. The cousin of Tigers outfielder Ron LeFlore, Steverson attended Arizona State University, where he played with the famed "Million Dollar Outfield" of Jim Austin, Mike Kelly and Tommy Adams. Originally selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the sixth round of the 1989 draft, Steverson opted not to sign. He would have to wait until 1992 to be drafted again; he was drafted 25th overall by the Toronto Blue Jays, and this time he did sign. His signing bonus was $450,000.\n', '

He spent three years in the Blue Jays\' farm system, showing nothing more than mediocre statistics: he was speedy (he had a career high 23 stolen bases in 1992 while with the St. Catharines Blue Jays), but he also struck out a lot (118 times in 413 at bats in 1993 with the Dunedin Blue Jays) and was not an average hitter (.209 batting average in 1992).\n', '

He was drafted by the Tigers in the 1994 Rule 5 Draft, and although he had had a fairly unimpressive minor league career, he found himself with the big league club before the end of April 1995.\n', '

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