After playing in 1,155 minor league games since 2010, 33-year-old Drew Maggi was beginning to wonder if he would ever get another opportunity to play with a big league club.
On Sunday, the Double-A Altoona Curve infielder learned he was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
His reaction to the news speaks for itself:
Altoona Curve Manager and Assistant Hitting Coordinator with the Pirates, Calix Crabbe, notified Maggi of the development with a speech that represented exactly what makes stories like Maggi’s special.
“Baseball is like this wonderful microcosm to everything that we do,” Crabbe said. “It is with great pleasure that I get to promote my first person to the major leagues, someone that is tremendously important to this group. Someone that exemplifies grit, the choice to continue to fight for what he wants in life and a lot of that is have the right perspective.”
Maggi’s response was the icing on the cake. “Holy f****,” “Let’s f****** go,” he exclaimed.
The Pirates added Maggi as the team announced outfielder Bryan Reynolds was placed on the Bereavement List. The Pirates cleared a roster spot while placing Ji Man Choi on the 60-day injured list, retroactive to April 14.
Maggi, who has spent 13 seasons in MiLB, was selected by the Pirates in the 15th round of the 2010 Draft. 11 years into his career, the veteran was selected to the Minnesota Twins roster on Sept. 18, 2021. He did not appear in a game.
“You always believe that you can get another shot, but as you get older, you have that in your mind: ‘This could be it for me,'” Maggi said via MLB.com in March.
Now, he will wear number 39 for the team that drafted him all those years ago.
“Never give up on your dream, man,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton told Maggi when he arrived at the team’s facilities.
While Maggi was not in the Pirates’ starting lineup for the team’s Sunday matchup with the Cincinnati Reds, his first MLB appearance is hopefully on the horizon.