In this edition of our birthday series, we take a look at a player who reached the top of his abilities in his very first chance in the big leagues, never to reach that mark again. Kevin Maas was a late draft pick for the Yankees in the mid-’80s, and found his way to the Bronx by unfortunate circumstances. Despite that, he took full advantage of the situation and shined brightly for a brief period.
Maas’ career was not ultimately that long or historically significant with the Yankees, but he was still
able to make his mark. Particularly true when considering that he provided some excitement in a stale point on the Yankee timeline.
Kevin Maas
Born: January 20, 1965 (Castro Valley, CA)
Yankees Tenure: 1990-93
In the 22nd round of the 1986 amateur draft, the Yankees selected Kevin Maas, out of the University of California. From the beginning, the 6-foot-3 left-hander impressed at the professional level. He first appeared at low-A in ‘86, and slowly worked his way through the Yankees system through the late ‘80s.
Come 1990, the Yankees didn’t have a whole lot of things break their way. But, if anything could be counted on, it was their star first baseman Don Mattingly. But even he couldn’t help things in the Bronx, as the injury bug began to bite for the first time in his career, and the lefty experienced his first real down season. He was banged up for most of the year, and when he did play, his power at the plate had all but disappeared. Luckily for New York, Maas provided a major spark as a rookie.
After a solid start in the minors, the 25-year-old first baseman was called up in late June of that season and hit the ground running. The lefty notched his first hit in his big league debut, and swatted his first home run just a few days later. The rest of the campaign would be a dream for the rookie. The first homer was just a taste of what would come, as Maas and the right field seats became very familiar with one another.
That season, despite appearing in just 79 games, Maas belted 21 homers and hit to the tune of a 150 wRC+. He would set some rookie records, including the fastest rookie (by plate appearances) to get to 10 home runs (a record that has since been broken by a couple other Yankees in Shane Spencer and Gary Sánchez). Despite standing in for the face of the franchise, Maas made a memorable first impression, and it would be hard not to give the rising star an opportunity going forward.
Maas was given just that for the 1991 season, as he appeared in 148 games and racked up nearly 600 plate appearances. Unfortunately for him and the Yanks, he did not reach nearly the same level of success. He did set a new career-high with 23 homers, but did so as a roughly league-average bat, seeing drops in nearly every category as he slashed just .220/.333/.390. Coming off of his electric, albeit brief rookie campaign, Maas was largely disappointing in his sophomore effort. Fairly or not, that would be his last shot at regular plate appearances with the Yankees or elsewhere around the majors.
Between the 1992 and ‘93 seasons, Maas never played more than 98 games, playing roughly a full season in total during that stretch. Once again, the lefty hit 20 home runs in those 158 games, as a league-average bat (98 OPS+). Not that production of this level is necessarily bad, but as a first baseman, and one that is behind the team’s captain on the depth chart, it is not enough to justify regular time on the field.
Maas was released by the Yankees just before the 1994 season, and would take until 1995 to make his way back to the major leagues. He did so with the Twins, in an underwhelming 22 games worth of baseball. It was easily the lowest point of his career in the bigs, as he slashed just .193/.281/.316, and at 30 years old, that was the end of the road for Maas in The Show.
Just five years after Kevin Maas burst on to the scene as an electric replacement for the injured Mattingly, his time on a big league field had come to an end. He came up relatively late, and was unable to repeat his rookie performance — and at a premium offensive position, his time was limited. With that being said, he contributed an exhilarating rookie campaign, as few storylines are as exciting, and Maas provided just that in a particularly grim time for the Yankees.
There is always something to be said for any Major League Baseball career, and that of Maas had moments of real potential and excitement, a real accomplishment on its own.
See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.
