Top Minor League Hitters in Milwaukee Brewers History: #8 William Max, 1983 El Paso

During my research into the Milwaukee Brewers minor league history, I came across many names that I knew or remembered and a few that I didn’t. William Max falls into that second category.

Max was signed as a free agent out of UNLV in 1981 and reported to Butte in the rookie Pioneer League. He had a decent year, playing in just over half of the games for the Copper Kings, showing good power with six homers and a .579 slugging average, which placed second in the league. That earned Max a promotion to Class A Midwest League Beloit in 1982.

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The right-handed hitting third sacker had a great half-season in Wisconsin, batting .333/.425/.529 in 223 plate appearances and earned a bump to Advanced A Stockton in the California League. There he slashed .303/.398/.561 in 239 trips to the dish. That tremendous season earned him a ticket to El Paso in 1983, where he completed a full season that placed him in the Top 10 of Minor League Hitters in Brewers history.

#8 William Max, 1983 El Paso (AA)

Max had a great season, competing with contemporaries such as John Kruk, Kevin Mitchell, Ozzie Guillen, and Terry Pendleton–playing as well as any of them. Max was second in the league in runs scored (117), third in RBIs (112), fourth in homers (28) and total bases (272), and fifth in slugging (.596) and OPS (1.025).

The El Paso squad won the Texas League West Division but missed on on the league championship, which was won by Beaumont.

The next season, Max was still at AA, but this time with the New York Mets’ Jackson squad. I was unable to find any details, but based on the great 1983 season, I assume Max was traded to the Mets organization. He played in 107 games, slashing .254/.332/.383 in 383 trips to the plate.

That would be Max’s final professional season. In four years, he hit .309/.398/.525 in spite of his final year struggle.

William Max had a nice minor league career, but it ended in mystery.