Justin Maxwell: It Won't Be Long Now

Justin Maxwell has been on the DL since fracturing his left hand on April 23rd after being hit by a pitch from Hisashi Iwakuma of the Seattle Mariners. His absence was the fuel for the Astros initially calling up Robbie Grossman to the big league club. Grossman was optioned back to AAA Oklahoma City earlier this week, making room for Brad Peacock to be called up for the series in Colorado.

This morning on Facebook, Maxwell commented that he'll start to see live pitching again in Kissimmee today. MLB.com reports that he took about 20 swings off a hitting coach on May 24th and that Maxwell was scheduled to start a minor league rehab assignment yesterday.

It remains to be seen when Maxwell's first game back will be, but I know I'm not along in my excitement for his return. Along with covering the massive area known as center field quite handily, Maxwell served the club well at the plate to start this season. Before fracturing his hand, Maxwell was hitting .237 with one homer and two stolen bases. Hurry up, JMax. I've enjoyed your tweets and Facebook updates while you've been healing, but I miss you on the baseball field.