Maybin finally rides a winner
Newly acquired outfielder to dip toe in playoff pool after decade without
OAKLAND, Calif. — Cameron Maybin has played in almost 900 major league games spanning parts of 11 seasons since he debuted for the Detroit Tigers as a ballyhooed 20-year-old in August 2007.
Most of those games have been spent with franchises mired in rebuilds or simply not in legitimate contention. The journeyman center fielder has only once since 2009 played on a team that finished its season with a winning record. He has never played on a team that qualified for the postseason.
That was bound to change the moment his phone rang Aug. 31 while at his apartment in Irvine,
Cameron Maybin has walloped three home runs in 16 at-bats with the Astros, who will reward the veteran with his first trip to the postseason. John Froschauer / Associated Press
Calif. On the other end of the line was Los Angeles Angels general manager Billy Eppler, who notified Maybin he had been acquired by the Astros. Maybin packed up his things and joined his new team at Minute Maid Park two days later.
“It’s not my first rodeo on making a move,” he said.
Maybin, 30, has been traded five times in the last decade, a couple of times as a salary dump. He has been included in the return packages in deals for future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera and elite closer Craig Kimbrel. His latest move came via the August waiver wire. The Angels let Maybin go to the Astros in return for them picking up the roughly $1.5 million left on his $9 million salary for this year.
And while he may have finally made the postseason if the Angels had kept him around, he’s guaranteed to do so with the Astros. The American League leaders enter Friday night’s series opener in Oakland needing only nine wins or nine Angels losses to clinch their first division title since 2001.
On top of that, Maybin has sparked his new team with three home runs in 16 at-bats, including goahead, two-run blasts in each of Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s Astros wins at Seattle. Manager A.J. Hinch has started him in four of six games and played him in each. The speedy veteran has benefited in playing time as a result of a minor groin injury to outfielder Jake Marisnick.
His hips don’t lie
The Astros claimed Maybin with an eye toward October. At worst, he figures to make their playoff roster as a potential pinch runner for Hinch to deploy with a game hanging in the balance. At best, he could make up the righthandedhitting half of an outfield platoon.
“It’s a great opportunity to help this team do something special,” Maybin said. “They’ve been playing really good baseball all year. Playing in the same division, I had a chance to watch it from afar. It looks
like a fun brand of baseball. So to come in here and now get to see for myself, it’s fun.”
Maybin, the 10th overall pick by the Tigers in the 2005 draft, posted his best offensive campaign last year in his second stint with Detroit. In 349 at-bats over 94 games, he batted .315 with an .801 on-base plus slugging percentage. He helped the Tigers finish in second place in the AL Central, only 2½ games out of a wild-card spot.
But he regressed offensively this season with the Angels. In 336 at-bats over 93 games with Los Angeles, he batted .235 with a .685 OPS, which is worse than his .696 career OPS. His bigger contributions came on the basepaths — he stole 29 bases, including six over two games at Minute Maid Park in June — and on defense. The Angels acquisition of Justin Upton made Maybin expendable.
When he joined the Astros last weekend, Maybin got to work with hitting
coach Dave Hudgens and assistant hitting coach Alonzo Powell, the latter of whom he previously had worked with in San Diego. Already, according to Maybin, they’ve helped clean up his bat angle and through studying scouting reports and video have allowed him to go to the plate with a better idea of how to do damage.
“His hips generate everything,” Hinch said. “If he gets a little bit too pull conscious with his hips, that leaves his bat lagging behind. He’s got power and he’s always had power. Everybody’s always tried to tap into that power.
“I think when he went to Atlanta (in 2015) with (Braves hitting coach) Kevin Seitzer, he learned how to hit the ball the other way. He’s always had the ability to pull the ball if his body’s in a good position. Zo and Hudge have done a nice job of reminding him where his body has got to be in order to get to pitches that he can drive.”
In the Astros’ 3-1 victory Tuesday, Maybin broke up Seattle’s combined no-hitter in the seventh inning by cranking an inside fastball from lefthander Emilo Pagan out to left-center field. In the ninth inning of Wednesday’s 5-3 victory, he smacked a 100 mph heater from righthander Edwin Diaz the opposite way and off the right-field foul pole.
“As far as a feel, going up to the plate and feeling dangerous, just being here six days or whatever it’s been, I’ve got that feeling back,” Maybin said.
Maybin’s move to the Astros has meant not only a reunion with ex-Detroit teammate Justin Verlander but also with Hinch, who was a member of the San Diego front office that signed Maybin to his fiveyear, $25 million contract extension in March 2012.
Swapping praise
Hinch made it a point to be the one to call Maybin to welcome him to the Astros upon last week’s transaction. He raved about Maybin’s “outgoing” and “infectious” personality. The manager and his new outfielder have picked up with some of the same jokes they bantered back and forth during their Padres’ days.
“He makes it easy to be loose, be yourself and just get ready to go play baseball,” Maybin said of Hinch. “His main objective is that we bring the intensity and bring the focus every day. But at the end of the day, just be ready to have fun playing baseball, man. That’s one thing I’ve always enjoyed about A.J. He’s easy to talk to, easy to communicate with.”
After his hot start, Maybin could continue to force his way into Hinch’s lineup. And while the extent of his role on the Astros’ postseason roster remains to be determined, Maybin can take solace in knowing he finally will play meaningful October baseball.
“You never know who’s going to get you each day in this lineup,” Maybin said. “It may be everybody. It may be a couple of guys.
“I just want to put myself in a situation to have a chance to be one of those guys.”