Cameron Maybin |
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Cameron Keith Maybin (born April 4, 1987 in Asheville, North Carolina) is a Major League Baseball player in the Florida Marlins organization. He was the tenth pick in the 2005 First-Year Player Draft, and in 2006 played center field for the Class A West Michigan Whitecaps. He was consistently ranked as the Tigers top minor league prospect before being dealt. He is the cousin of Sacramento Kings guard Rashad McCants and third cousin of Canadian Football League running back John Avery.
Maybin played high school baseball for T.C. Roberson High School in Arden, North Carolina. As a freshman, he led his team to a state title and was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. The summer before his senior season, Maybin won the Connie Mack World Series batting title and World Series MVP award in Farmington, N.M. Joe Hayden, his manager with the Midland (Ohio) Redskins, said he had "the same instincts in the outfield and at the plate" as Ken Griffey, Jr., who Hayden also coached in the Connie Mack division, an amateur baseball league for players 18 and younger. Maybin was also named the 2004 Baseball America Youth Player of the Year.
After graduating from high school, Cameron Maybin entered the Major League draft. In their pre-draft rankings, Baseball America tabbed him as the most promising available outfielder and the third-best hitting prospect overall. He fell to the tenth spot in the 2005 draft, in part due to speculation he'd be difficult to sign. He held out for four months, and at one point negotiations were going so poorly that Detroit Tigers owner Mike Ilitch withdrew his contract offer. After missing the minor league season, he signed in September for a $2.65 million bonus.