Catcher Maxwell arrives

Oakland’s future keeps arriving at a quicker pace than anticipated. On Saturday, the team’s top minor-league catching prospect, Bruce Maxwell, was called up, and he will be in the lineup Sunday, catching Jesse Hahn.

“I don’t think it’s quite hit me yet,” Maxwell said, minutes after arriving in the A’s clubhouse.

The A’s are getting the 25year-old when he is red hot: Maxwell, the Pacific Coast League Player of the Week last week, was hitting .643 with five homers and 16 RBIs over his past eight games with Triple-A Nashville.

“Unreal — every time you look up, he’s 4-for-5, 5-for-5, hitting a home run every game,” Hahn said. “I would say he’s been our best hitter down there. He’s kind of been carrying the team a little bit.”

Overall, Maxwell was hitting .321 with 12 doubles, a careerhigh 10 home runs, 41 RBIs and a .539 slugging percentage. He’s a terrific catcher who has a cannon of a throwing arm, and Nashville’s pitchers rave about him.

“His hands have gotten dramatically

better. I can tell he’s put in the work,” said reliever Zach Neal, who’s had Maxwell catch him at several stops. “There’s times I’ll yank a pitch and his hands are so good, he’ll make it look like that’s what we were trying to do. He covers up a lot of mistakes, can get you some more strikes. He’s one of the guys you’re happy for because you can see he didn’t sit back. He knew what he needed to do to get better and he did it.”

“I love throwing to him,” reliever Daniel Coulombe said. “The thing that separates him is even on days he’s catching, he’s out there doing whatever we need before the game, stretching with the pitchers, catching flat-grounds — a lot of times, starting catchers don’t do that. He’s the first one to the

ballpark, and from what I understand, he’s really cleaned up his act.”

Maxwell told The Chronicle during spring training that he had decided to make baseball his priority last season. He gave up drinking during the winter and started going to the gym twice a day. Minor-league coaches and the big-league staff during the spring all remarked on how much he had matured.

Usually, Triple-A Nashville manager Steve Scarsone tries to punk his players a bit when they get their first call-up — make them think they’re in trouble, then break the good news instead. Maxwell, though, was listening to a voice mail on his cell phone detailing his travel itinerary to Oakland when he walked into Scarsone’s office.

“It was actually really awkward,” Maxwell said. “I didn’t know whether to hang up or to shake his hand, so I did both.”

Maxwell’s dad, Bruce Jr., and his stepmom, Kelli, are on hand for the weekend, along with Maxwell’s girlfriend.

The A’s placed catcher Stephen Vogt on the family medical leave list because of a family emergency. Manager Bob Melvin, who did not provide specifics, said Vogt will miss three days.

Reliever Fernando Rodriguez (shoulder) was placed on the 60-day disabled list in order to get Maxwell onto the 40-man roster.