LAKELAND, Fla. – Yes, he has been here before.
On this team. In this clubhouse. In Joker Marchant Stadium.
“It’s not weird,” Cameron Maybin said. “It almost feels right.”
Maybin was drafted No. 10 overall by the Tigers in 2005.
In the spring of 2006, Maybin was invited to camp to get his first glimpse of the big leagues, and he was in this same clubhouse with guys like Pudge Rodriguez, Carlos Guillen, Brandon Inge, Craig Monroe and 23-year-old Justin Verlander.
“Where was your locker back then?” I asked him.
“Down there in the corner,” he said, looking to the back recesses of the clubhouse to a small space where they pack the young players who don’t have a realistic shot to make the team.