LAKELAND, Fla. -- Cameron Maybin walked into the clubhouse at Joker Marchant Stadium to get into his gear, stepped onto the back fields at Tigertown to take some swings and felt at home.

This is where it all began. His two previous Tigers tenures totaled a season and a half, but this is comfortable.

“They’ve known me since I was 18 years old,” said Maybin, the Tigers’ first-round pick in the 2005 MLB Draft. “They know my character. They know my work ethic. So with some of the options that I had on the table, I just felt like this is the place that has always been dear to my heart, especially from the standpoint of them giving me my first opportunity. …

“They know I’ll give it all for this organization. I’ll play hurt. I have. I feel like this organization embodies who I am, just a grinder.”

At the same time, when Maybin walked into his old digs, he knew another previous stint would be a topic.

“I think the things that went on in that 2017 season with the Astros, which I was there for a month and some change, definitely don't reflect how I approach the game and how I play the game,” Maybin said.

A year after Maybin’s last Tigers stint, he played for the 2017 World Series champion Astros. Hours before Houston traded for Justin Verlander, it claimed Maybin off waivers from the Angels. Soon after he arrived, Maybin said, he realized what the Astros were doing to steal signs.

“Hindsight 20/20, it's tough, being in the locker room, knowing what was going on,” Maybin said. “We all could've definitely said something about it, but personally speaking for me, it's tough to just come into an organization that late and think you're just going to change something. Again, it's no excuse, but to see it unfold now, I can't say I'm surprised.”

Maybin hit .186 (11-for-59) with 16 strikeouts for the Astros that September. Four of those hits were home runs -- one at home, three on the road. He hit late-inning, go-ahead homers on back-to-back nights in Seattle, including a ninth-inning drive off Edwin Díaz.

Last year, he was a key part of a Yankees squad that rolled to the American League East title and came within a win of the World Series before the Astros rallied in the AL Championship Series. The topic of the Astros’ sign-stealing tactics came up.

“Going into a tough series, these were my brothers. So there was a conversation had about possibilities that I'll keep between those guys,” Maybin said. “We had a conversation, and I'll keep that conversation between them, but ... heads-up.”

Maybin said he’s willing to talk with his new Tigers teammates about those matters as well. Some already have a grasp of it from what former teammate Mike Fiers told them before they headed into Houston in July 2018.

“If they ask me about it, I'll be open,” Maybin said. “I've been on other teams, and I'm very loyal to who I'm playing for. I'm very loyal to the guys that I take a locker room with. I'm going to be open as I've been with any other team that I've been on about anything they might want to know.”

As far as manager Ron Gardenhire is concerned, it doesn’t matter.

“We’re just happy to have him here. That’s all I care about,” Gardenhire said. “He’s a good baseball player and a good guy.”

And for a third time, he’s a Tiger.

“That means a lot to me,” Maybin said.