The second-year Yankee quickly learned the harsh realities of a grueling 162-game schedule and facing pitchers the second time around. After clouting home runs at a record pace his rookie season in '90, Maas was mired in a season-long slump in '91. His .220 BA, 23 HRs and 63 RBI fell short of expected production, and that same burden will again rear its ugly head this year.
The left-handed hitter has a tailor-made swing for Yankee Stadium's right-field porch and will be aiming for the seats again.
'One or two guys I talked to said every player who's played the game had a bad streak or a bad season when things don't click,' Maas says. 'I've seen what I can do before.' "
-The New York Yankees Official 1992 Yearbook
"Maas showed signs that his power in 1990 was no fluke, spending his first full season in the majors in 1991.
He started out the season by hitting .333 (6-for-18) with two home runs and six RBIs over his first seven games but went 6-for-34 with two RBIs for the rest of April. Maas hit .231 for the month with 23 walks while starting all 17 games. He hit both of his home runs in his first 17 at-bats. He hit his first homer in his second plate appearances on April 8 off Frank Tanana at Detroit, the Yankees' first homer of 1991. On April 12 at Kansas City, he hit his first major league triple in his 264th big league at-bat.
Kevin had perhaps his most consistent month in May, hitting .300 with seven homers, 11 RBIs, 18 bases on balls and 20 runs scored. His home runs came in bunches, as he hit the first four in 25 at-bats and the last three in 25 at-bats. Kevin had his first career four-hit game on May 8 at California, pushing his batting average to .300. He led the AL in bases on balls as late as May 25. He hit fourth in the batting order in the club's first 31 games of the season (through May 16) and in 40 of the first 41 games.
He hit .210 in June, dropping his average from .276 to .250, with four home runs. He had a six-game hitting streak from June 12-18 (9-for-25), raising his average 12 points to .271. Hitting .252 with 14 homers and 34 RBIs at the break, Kevin went into a career worst slump after the break; he had a streak of six games when he went 0-for-29. The string was snapped on July 25 against Seattle with a single off Bill Krueger. For July, he hit .151 (13-for-86) with a home run and five RBIs, including .109 (7-for-64) with three RBIs after the break.
Maas hit .158 in August with four home runs and 14 RBIs. He hit .250 (18-for-72) with three homers in September and had a season best eight-game hitting streak from September 20-27 (11-for-27), raising average 11 points to .220. He stole home on September 22 at Boston on the back end of a delayed double steal with Matt Nokes. Kevin was 4-for-14 with a pair of homers in October; he hit the club's last homer of the season in the last game on October 6 at the Stadium off Jeff Shaw of the Indians.
Over his final 13 games, he hit .333 (15-for-45) with four home runs and six RBIs. He hit .191 with nine homers and 29 RBIs after the break.
For the 1990 season, he hit 23 homers and now has 44 in 754 major league at-bats. Maas became the first Yankee to hit 20+ homers in his first two major league seasons since Tom Tresh (20 & 25) in 1962 and 1963. He hit nine homers off left-handers, 14 off righties; he hit eight homers at home, 15 on the road; he hit six in day games, 17 at night, and he hit 15 solo homers, four two-run homers and four three-run homers.
Kevin's longest homerless drought was 90 at-bats. With his May 29 home run off Tom Bolton of Boston, he has hit at least one homer against every American League opponent. Kevin has homered in every AL city except Boston and Chicago. Last year he was the only left-handed hitter to hit a home run off Cleveland's Greg Swindell. He homered in consecutive games three times and had a multi-homer game, October 6 against Cleveland, off Charles Nagy and Jeff Shaw.
In '91 Kevin hit .221 against left-handers, .219 against righties; .178 at home, .258 on the road and hit .271 (23-for-85) on artificial turf. He was 2-for-9 as a pinch hitter, hit .180 with runners in scoring position and was 2-for-8 with seven RBIs with the bases loaded. Kevin ranked fourth in the American League for the ratio of fewest grounded into double plays, hitting into one every 125 at-bats. He tied Mel Hall for the club lead in two-out RBIs (27).
He played 36 games at first base and made six errors, a .983 fielding percentage. He was the designated hitter in 109 games and his 370 DH at-bats ranked ninth in the league. Maas has been the Yankee DH for 127 games over two seasons to rank eighth on the club's all-time list behind Reggie Jackson (135).
Maas played winter ball in Venezuela, hitting .367 with two homers and 12 RBIs over 18 games. He signed a contract for the 1992 season.
In 1990, Maas established his mark as having a swing built for Yankee Stadium. He finished a brilliant rookie season with a .252 batting average, 21 home runs and 41 RBIs.
He started the season in Tampa on injury rehabilitation for 1989 knee surgery, then reported to Columbus on April 29. Maas was with the Clippers until he had his contract purchased by the Yankees on June 28. At the time of his promotion he was hitting .284 with 15 doubles, 13 home runs and 38 RBIs. He had a .390 on-base percentage and a .582 slugging average.
Kevin was put into the lineup immediately, making his debut as a starter (designated hitter) on June 29 at Chicago. He went 1-for-3 getting his first major league hit, a single off Jack McDowell in the 4th inning. He hit safely in his first three games (3-for-10) and hit his first home run on July 4th at Kansas City off Bret Saberhagen. Kevin hit home runs in three consecutive games (July 23-25 at Texas) to become the first Yankee rookie to do so since Steve Whitaker from August 26-28, 1966.
He had four home runs over the final 12 games of July. He hit .270 in for the month with eight home runs and 15 RBIs (1 HR every 7.9 AB).
Kevin had another productive month in August, hitting .260 with eight home runs and 15 RBIs. He hit in five straight from July 31-August 4, going 9-for-20 (.450) and raising his batting average from .242 to .293. He hit his 12th homer on August 7 in Seattle off Erik Hanson, becoming the 21st player in Kingdome history to hit a ball into the upper deck. The ball traveled an estimated 448 feet. He went 2-for-4 on August 11 to bring his average to .282 but hit .238 (15-for-63) over the remainder of the month.
Reaching a number of major league records with his home run power, Maas set the MAJOR LEAGUE record for fewest at-bats (77) to reach 10 home runs- the old record was held by George Scott who hit 10 in 79 at-bats for the Red Sox in 1966. He set the MAJOR LEAGUE record for fewest at-bats (110) to reach 13 home runs- the old record was held by Sam Horn who hit 13 in 123 at-bats for Boston in 1987. He set the MAJOR LEAGUE record for fewest at-bats (133) to reach 15 home runs- the old record was held by Wally Berger who hit 15 in 135 at-bats for the Boston Braves in 1930. Maas tied the MAJOR LEAGUE record for most home runs (12) in his first 100 at-bats with Dave Hostetler, who hit 12 in his first 100 for the Texas Rangers in 1982. He finished first in the American League and second in the majors for most home runs by a rookie, behind David Justice of Atlanta who hit 28.
Maas and Mattingly started together 18 times and in those games combined to hit .331 (45-for-136) with seven homers and 22 RBIs. Maas hit .359 (23-for-64) and Mattingly hit .306 (22-for-72). For the year, Maas started 70 games (1B-53, DH-17).
The Yankees' 22nd pick in the June 1986 free agent draft, Kevin was signed by Bill Livesey and recommended by Greg Orr. He played 28 games with Oneonta, where he batted .356 (36-for-101) with 10 doubles and 18 RBIs in his first professional season.
He spent the 1987 season at 'A' Ft. Lauderdale of the Florida State League where he batted .278 with 28 doubles, 11 home runs, 73 RBIs, 14 stolen bases and 108 strikeouts. He played 76 of his 116 games at first base but was named as the designated hitter on the Florida State League All-Star team.
Maas was named the 1988 Yankee Minor League Player of the Year.
He started the season with 'A' Prince William of the Carolina League and batted .296 in 29 games with seven doubles, 12 home runs and 35 RBIs. He was promoted to AA Albany-Colonie of the Eastern League on May 13, where he finished the season.
Kevin was named to play in the mid-season Eastern League All-Star Game and was selected as the first baseman on the postseason Eastern League All-Star team. He was named Topps Minor League Player of the Month in the Eastern League for August, when he batted .243 (27-for-111) in 31 games with 20 runs scored, six home runs and 16 RBIs (including four game-winning RBIs).
He batted .263 (98-for-372) in 108 games at Albany with 66 runs, 14 doubles, 16 home runs and 55 RBIs. He finished third in the Eastern League in home runs and third in walks (64). Kevin's combined 28 home runs at Prince William and Albany led the Yankee farm system. He was added to the Yankees' 40-man roster in November of 1988.
Maas spent the entire 1989 season at Columbus. He hit .320 in 83 games (third best on the club) with 23 doubles, six home runs and 45 RBIs. 31 of his 93 hits (33%) went for extra bases and his .474 slugging percentage ranked second on the team. He played 43 of 83 games as an outfielder but was named to the International League All-Star team as a designated hitter.
He was on the disabled list twice in 1989: from April 18-May 1 with the chicken pox, and from July 28 through the end of the season as he underwent arthroscopic surgery on August 16 to have ligaments in his right knee repaired. He injured his right knee rounding first base on July 26.
Kevin graduated from Bishop O'Dowd (CA) High School and earned a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. He was voted the 1991 'Good Guy' award by the New York Press photographers."
-1992 New York Yankees Information Guide
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