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Welcome to San Francisco, Justin Maxwell

By Sean Bialaszek

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Justin Maxwell‘s road to Tuesday night has been long and winding. He was a top prospect in the Washington Nationals’ organization in 2007. He was the top home run-hitter for the Houston Astros in 2012. He was a castoff, just looking for a job. With the San Francisco Giants, he’s found one.

In 2014, Maxwell was with the Kansas City Royals, and played in 20 big league games before being designated. He almost earned a World Series ring when the team went to game seven with the Giants before ultimately falling in the Fall Classic. Now he finds himself with the team that kept him from getting the hardware.

The Giants picked Maxwell up off the scrapheap, signing him to a minor league contract, complete with an opt-out clause, so that Maxwell could seek other opportunities if things didn’t work out with San Francisco.

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It didn’t look as if things would work out in San Francisco for Maxwell. The Giants had a solid group of outfielders, as Hunter Pence and Angel Pagan had their positions locked down, and Nori Aoki and Gregor Blanco were locks to compete for the starting left field job, with the loser becoming the fourth outfielder. They also had Juan Perez, taxi-squad extraordinaire, and Gary Brown, the former top prospect who the team still hoped would become what they imagined.

But Maxwell caught a lucky break. It wasn’t a good break for the team, as Pence suffered a broken forearm in the first week of Spring Training, but sometimes, that’s all it takes for a guy to make something happen. At the same time, Juan Perez and Gary Brown went ice cold, and Maxwell took advantage.

After an 0-10 start to the Spring, Maxwell went 25-62 (.403) over the rest of the exhibition games, including two home runs, five doubles, and 15 RBI. The team had no choice but to keep Maxwell, signing him to a big league deal, and removing Brown from the 40-man roster to make room.

Maxwell had a big moment early in the season, as he hit a game-winning single in the 12th inning on April 9th against the San Diego Padres, the only run in a 1-0 win. After that, he mostly came in as a pinch-hitter, getting the occasional start here and there, with the team hoping his big bat could provide some offense.

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On Tuesday, Maxwell enjoyed his true coming out party against the Los Angeles Dodgers. It started in the second inning, when Maxwell ripped a two-out triple into the left-center field gap, past the diving glove of Dodgers’ center fielder Joc Pederson. He scored when the next batter, Brandon Crawford, executed an absolutely perfect drag bunt, sending the Giants’ already-rabid crowd into a frenzy and awakening chants of “Beat LA!” throughout AT&T Park.

After that, he scored another run after reaching on a fielder’s choice, and worked a walk at the plate. He made a couple of nifty catches with his back against the wall in right field. But in the eighth inning, things got really exciting.

With Yasiel Puig batting and two runners on in the top of the eighth, Puig fouled a ball down the right field line. Maxwell ran a long way from his post in right, and on a beautiful slide, made a fantastic catch right before banging his knee into the wall, into the concrete that sits just below the padding that lines the wall. The inning ended with a zero on the board for LA, and if not for that catch, who knows how things could have ended.

Maxwell was in some pain from hitting the wall, and limped around for a few minutes, but ultimately, he stayed in the game. If there were any questions surrounding his knee, he answered them very quickly.

Just about five minutes after he robbed Puig, Maxwell stepped to the plate to face Dodgers’ reliever Pedro Baez. Maxwell worked the count to 3-1, and he got a 97 mile-per-hour fastball. Using every inch of his six-foot, five-inch, and 230-pound frame, he turned on the fastball, and sent it screaming down the left-field line, landing 430 feet from where it came, for his first home run with the Giants.

April 17, 2015; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants right fielder Justin Maxwell (43) before the game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at AT&T Park. The Diamondbacks defeated the Giants 9-0. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Maxwell sent the 97 mph pitch out of the park at 109 mph. It was his first home run since September 22nd, 2013, when he hit a walk-off grand slam while still with the Royals.

After he hit the pitch, Maxwell flung his bat away, almost like he was symbolically taking a weight of his shoulders and throwing it away with that one swing of the bat. As he rounded the bases, Maxwell’s smile could not be contained. Why should he contain it? With the Giants riding a skid of losing nine out of 10 ballgames, the team, and the crowd at home, needed a boost. Even though the Giants were already up 4-1, Maxwell’s play in the eighth inning fired them up to levels the stadium has yet to see this season.

The fans cheered loudly for Maxwell, and he finally appeased them with a curtain call after his home run. At that point, there was nothing that could wipe the big, infectious smile off of his face. He put a smile on the fans’ faces, the same fans who have suffered through this horrid stretch, and desperately needed a reason to smile.

Maxwell’s career has been marred by injuries. He’s undergone hip surgery, Tommy John surgery, and concussions, just to name a few. His big break came from another player’s injury, and on Tuesday, he made the fans forget, if just for one split second, that the Giants were missing Pence, their heart and soul. Instead, Maxwell’s heart and determination finally paid off.

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