Jason Maxwell

[William Malone]

Jason Ramond Maxwell was born on March 26, 1972 in Lewisburg, Tennessee.

The Chicago Cubs selected him in round 74 of the 1993 MLB Draft out of Middle Tennessee State University. Maxwell first reached the Majors in 1998, making him the lowest draft pick in Cubs history to reach the big leagues.

Maxwell signed a minor league contract with the Minnesota Twins ahead of the 2000 season, and made their Opening Day roster after a strong camp performance. He was often a defensive replacement at second base late in games, only starting 27 of his 64 appearances for the Twins that season. Maxwell didn't even register a plate appearance in 13 of those games, and slashed .243/.298/.324 when he was at the plate.

He returned to the Twins in 2001, but the emergence of Luis Rivas gave Minnesota a full time second baseman who they felt comfortable with defensively late in games. This limited Maxwell to just 39 games and 78 plate appearances. He hit .191/286/.294 in those 78 trips to the plate. The Cincinnati Reds signed Maxwell to a minor league deal, and he spent two seasons with their Triple-A team. He did the same for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays Triple-A squad in 2004, then retired from professional baseball.

Maxwell is currently the athletic director and head baseball coach at The Ensworth School in Nashville, Tennessee. He has also coached several U18 and U15 national teams for USA Baseball, allowing him to work with some of the game's brightest future stars. Some of his favorite players from working with USA Baseball include Anthony Volpe, Dylan Crews and Royce Lewis. Maxwell recommended to Twins special assistant of baseball operations LaTroy Hawkins, his former big league teammate, that Minnesota use the first overall pick in 2017 on Lewis.

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