The path from Major League Baseball draft pick to appearance in a MLB game is relatively quick and smooth for some prospects, but much longer (if ever accomplished at all) for many others. One player in that latter camp is infielder Drew Maggi, who’s getting a chance after 13 years in the minors. The Pittsburgh Pirates called him up from the Double-A Altoona Curve this weekend ahead of their game with the Cincinnati Reds Sunday, and while he wasn’t named to that starting lineup, he’s expected to get a chance to contribute either later in that game or in the coming days. And Maggi had an incredible reaction to learning about that news (at the 1:25 mark of the video below; language warning):
A Maggi-cal moment for Drew Maggi pic.twitter.com/jvoA0r80wV
— Altoona Curve (@AltoonaCurve) April 23, 2023
Maggi’s overwhelmed by emotion at first there, then finally gets out some words at the 1:58 mark: “Holy ****. Let’s ******* go!” And the applause and hugs for him from his teammates are great. The Pirates also posted a cool video of him walking into PNC Park Sunday:
Never give up on your dream. 🥲 pic.twitter.com/rRlenZBSZn
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) April 23, 2023
It’s been quite the journey for Maggi, who has made 4,494 career minor league plate appearances since 2010. The Arizona Diamondbacks drafted him in the 47th round of the 2008 MLB Draft out of Brophy College Preparatory High School in Phoenix, but he chose not to sign, instead going to Arizona State. He played a couple of years for the Sun Devils, then was selected by the Pirates in the 15th round of the 2010 MLB Draft.
Maggi, who will be 34 on May 16, played in the Pittsburgh organization through 2014, including with Altoona. He then spent time in the organizations of the Los Angeles Angels (then the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim), Los Angeles Dodgers, the Cleveland Guardians (then the Cleveland Indians), the Minnesota Twins (where he was called up to the big leagues in September 2021, but didn’t get into a game), and the Philadelphia Phillies before he was traded to Pittsburgh for cash considerations last summer.
Following that trade, Maggi played for the Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate, the Indianapolis Indians. He then went to spring training with the Pirates’ major league team, where he hit .344 with a 1.105 OPS across 26 games while playing three positions. He’s only been hitting .194/.242/.226 this season in Double A, but his positional versatility could be useful for Pittsburgh. And, as per Jason Mackey of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, many of the Pirates’ players are eager to lobby to get Maggi into a game:
Andrew McCutchen hugged Maggi and later said Pirates players would be lobbying manager Derek Shelton to put Maggi in a game as soon as possible, which didn’t happen the only other time Maggi was on a major league roster (September 2021 with the Twins).
“He’s stuck with it and kept going,” McCutchen said of Maggi, who’s in his 13th minor league season. “You can’t help but commend someone who has done what he has. He has a goal in mind. It’s being here, playing here. Really cool to be able to see him be in this position.”
For his part, Maggi (seen at top playing for the Twins’ Double-A affiliate, the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, in 2019) told Mackey this feels foreordained.
“I know 13 years is really hard,” Maggi said. “There were a lot of ups and downs, a lot of different people, injuries, stuff happening and never knowing if your days are numbered. But being here, it feels right. This was supposed to happen.”
[The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; photo from Gregg Pachkowski/The Pensacola News-Journal, via USA Today Sports]
