As I walked around a vineyard in Sonoita, Ariz., yesterday, I spotted a guy with a Braves hat on. I had the 'A' cap on as well, and we started talking about the team this year. We discussed the obvious things – Shelby Miller's great start, Freddie Freeman's bombs at Chase Field, Andrelton Simmons' defense – and then he said his favorite new player on the team was Cameron Maybin.
So let's talk about Cameron Maybin, whose first two months with the Braves have been spectacular.
As with any baseball article written based off 2+ months of data, I'll put the "yeah, but it's still pretty early..." at this point in the article instead of after every paragraph. Yes, it's early, but there's an absolute ton to love about Maybin's play right now.
After roping out two more hits Saturday, Maybin's up to .286/.364/.422 with a .349 wOBA and 121 wRC+. That ranks him as the sixth-best offensive center fielder this year behind only Joc Pederson, Mike Trout, A.J. Pollock, Andrew McCutchen and Adam Jones. Decent company. He also stole his ninth base of the season, putting him on pace for about 30 this season.
Considering what would be the state of center field if the Padres didn't throw the 28-year-old outfielder into the Craig Kimbrel trade – can you imagine 50+ starts of mostly Eric Young Jr. and Todd Cunningham? – Maybin's bat has been a very pleasant surprise. He's also provided the Braves with time; the club hasn't needed to worry about promoting Jose Peraza or Mallex Smith earlier than they probably should be due to his strong play in the outfield.
Maybin's batted ball numbers are beautiful, too. Jeff Sullivan of FanGraphs has a great in-depth piece here that's worth reading. Long story short, Maybin is driving the ball much better than he ever has before (28% line drive rate compared to a 17% career average) and is hitting the ball to all parts of the field (34% to LF, 32% to CF and 34% to RF) because he's balanced at the plate. These are really promising signs moving forward.
He's also shown to be more than capable of handling center field defensively. Maybin's career defensive numbers have always been strong; that will likely continue over the next few months as he gets even more accustomed to Turner Field after years in spacious Petco Park.
Spread out these numbers over a full season, and you've got a center fielder who should be worth somewhere around 3 WAR. Other than Michael Bourn's one great season in Atlanta, the Braves really haven't gotten that level of production since Andruw left town. It's still early, but it's probably time to start getting excited about Cameron Maybin.
