Once a top prospect, Kevin Maitan seeks to make most of second chance with Minnesota Twins, Cedar Rapids Kernels

CEDAR RAPIDS — It’s difficult to believe Kevin Maitan is still only 24 years old.

The list of things one of the newest Cedar Rapids Kernels has been through in his professional baseball career is extensive.

Let’s start back in 2016 when the then 16-year-old Venezuelan infielder signed with the Atlanta Braves as an international free agent, a contract that included a $4.25 million bonus. Maitan was considered the prize of that entire class, a can’t-miss guy who immediately jumped into most experts’ lists of top 30 to 35 guys in all the minor leagues.

A year later, he and 12 other Braves prospects were declared free agents after a Major League Baseball investigation discovered the organization had circumvented international signing rules. The Los Angeles Angels swooped in and signed him to a deal with a $2.2 million bonus.

Maitan got to keep the money he’d already gotten from Atlanta, by the way.

Things did not go well with the Angels. He didn’t hit and was released part way through last season after posting a sub-.200 batting average in Double-A.

An unproductive short stint in the independent American Association followed.

But Maitan meandered his way to the independent Atlantic League to begin this season, hit .333 with three home runs and nine extra-base hits in 14 games for the Charleston Dirty Birds, prompting the Minnesota Twins to sign him. Back in affiliated ball, he’s playing every day for the Kernels as a first and third baseman.

Quite a journey for the kid, needless to say.

“I think all of these things have been teaching moments for me,” Maitan said, with the translation assistance of Kernels co-pitching coach A.J. Angulo. “Things that I wasn’t able to realize back then, I do now. Knowing that I’ve grown up more, knowing that I have the family support that I have has been really nice. To be back in affiliated baseball, I’m going to take advantage of this. I’m going to take this opportunity and make the most of it.”

Maitan went into Thursday night’s game against the Lake County Captains at Veterans Memorial Stadium with a .196 batting average in 11 games. He had a double, a triple, two very long home runs and eight RBIs.

He said he hopes as he gets more comfortable, his production will increase. This is his second stint in the Midwest League, playing for the Burlington Bees in 2019 when the league was low-Class A.

It’s now high-A.

“I couldn’t feel any better. This organization is a great fit for me,” Maitan said, through Angulo. “Right now, I think that I have helped the team a little bit, but there are better things coming. I have been working on it.

“The most important thing I have seen is how the clubhouse has been. Everyone has been welcoming me and treating me like I have been a part of this team since the first day. It has been really good motivation for me to go out there and perform, just with how good this clubhouse is.”

Maitan was one of the youngest players on a Charleston team that included many former big leaguers, such as Delino DeShields Jr., Phil Ervin and Clint Frazier. The Atlantic League is chock full of guys like that.

“That was something new for me. It was kind of weird, different,” he said. “A lot of veterans there, a lot of people who have playing this game for a long time. Longer than me. But it also helped me a lot to realize where I wanted to be and what I wanted to do.

“I wasn’t really worried about getting a second chance (in affiliated ball). All I was worried about was getting a chance to play baseball and enjoy baseball. I kind of went away from that a little bit. Going to the Atlantic League and enjoying baseball again, being myself and having fun every game has been the most important thing. I am grateful for those experiences.”

And he’s beyond grateful for this experience.

“I was really, really surprised by getting released by the Angels,” Maitan said. “I wasn’t expecting it. I got home, and it was a really hard week. But at the same time it was a wake-up call for me ... This is all I know how to do, this is what I do. Being here and enjoying baseball and not putting so much pressure on myself has been helping me a lot.

“This is what I needed. I need this, I need to enjoy baseball again. Because the past years, I have put too much pressure on myself. There was big pressure in my head. Going out there, I wasn’t able to be myself. So being able to enjoy the game again has brought me here, and I’m going to take advantage of this opportunity.”

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