HOUSTON — If Mike Maddux weren’t coaching the Texas Rangers’ pitching staff in the American League Championship Series, he doesn’t have to think too hard about what else he would be doing.
“Golfing,” he said. “Watching these games on TV.”
That is Maddux for you. He keeps things to the point. He has his own sense of humor, full of one-line zingers and the occasional not-safe-for-work jokes.
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“Very dry,” Rangers reliever Chris Stratton said. “Very unique.”
Listen to Maddux long enough, though, and you’ll likely leave with some newfound wisdom.
That is why Texas general manager Chris Young called Maddux this time one year ago. Already, Young had pulled off a recruiting coup when he flew to Nashville, Tenn., and spent hours meeting with Bruce Bochy, convincing the three-time World Series-winning manager to come out of retirement. Young then called Maddux, who had recently stepped down from his post as pitching coach for the St. Louis Cardinals. Maddux had cited being ready for a slower pace. Now 62, he had accepted he was ready to retire. He went on a golf trip to Scotland, one he had dreamed of for years but never got around to planning.
Then the phone rang.
This time, as Bochy tells it, a grand sales pitch was not necessary.
“You know what,” Bochy said, “I think he had interest right away. I think he had interest from the get-go.”
A few factors played into all this. Maddux already had a home in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where he spent his offseasons. He was the Rangers’ pitching coach from 2009 to 2015, regarded as maybe the best the franchise had ever seen. His departure after the 2015 season was regrettable for the Rangers.
Maddux, too, has known little besides baseball for his entire adult life. He spent 15 seasons pitching in the major leagues, then jumped right into coaching. He started in the Houston Astros’ minor-league system, then had stints as the pitching coach with the Milwaukee Brewers, Rangers, Washington Nationals and Cardinals. Perhaps you have even heard of his brother, a Hall of Famer named Greg, who assisted the Rangers this year in spring training.
But as Maddux talked on the field this past weekend at Minute Maid Park, he made clear he might not have been so eager to return had the offer come from just anyone. It helped that the men asking him to leave his short-lived retirement were also a pair of baseball lifers. Young, the general manager, pitched 13 seasons in the big leagues. Bochy, the grizzled manager, had 25 years of experience as an MLB skipper.
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“When he was available when I first came over here, I said, ‘Man, this couldn’t have worked out better for me,’” Bochy said.
Painting the Rangers as strictly old-school is a misconception, but they were not plotting some seven-year rebuild. They wanted to win now. And with Bochy leading the club, it was clear the Rangers were going to have a balanced approach to everything they did.
Maddux never coached Young, nor had he ever worked for Bochy. But the respect was already mutual.
“Both A-pluses,” Maddux said of his bosses. “Baseball guys. Baseball names.”
After Maddux signed up for the job, the Rangers focused the bulk of their offseason efforts on finding starting pitching. Injuries, beginning with Jacob deGrom’s UCL, quickly gutted their efforts to improve. The result has been a season full of highs and lows on the mound. Nathan Eovaldi had an All-Star first half, then struggled after a return from the injured list. The bullpen had moments when pitchers showed their stuff. Rangers relievers also had the lowest save percentage in baseball.
Through the good and bad, Maddux helped the Rangers weather the storm.
“Similar to Boch, one of the things Mike does best is instill a conviction of belief in the guys,” Young said. “He works as hard as anybody I’ve seen in the game. You know when our guys go out there, they’ve prepared. Mike demands that. Just brings out the best in them.
“We’ve certainly had some ups and downs over the course of the year, but Mike has done a tremendous job. With the injuries we’ve had on the staff as well, we’ve found ways to kind of fill those gaps, and he’s just been wonderful.”
Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux holds a meeting on the mound. (Bruce Kluckhohn / USA Today)Now here the Rangers are in the postseason. The pitching that was supposed to make the playoffs their Waterloo has instead met the moment. The Rangers have a 2.14 ERA this postseason. Texas starters have struck out 38 batters and issued only four walks in 40 2/3 innings. Even a much-maligned bullpen has powered through moments of adversity.
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If there is any secret behind the sudden surge, Maddux is not about to reveal it.
“Same things we do all year,” he said. “No moment is too big. Same game that we played all year long.”
The Rangers, however, have thrived thanks to a rejuvenated Eovaldi. They have won big games with trade acquisition Jordan Montgomery shoving when it matters most. It just so happens Montgomery worked with Maddux in the second half of last season when the New York Yankees traded him to the Cardinals.
With Maddux as his pitching coach, Montgomery has a 2.90 ERA in 22 starts.
“He’s probably worked with every type of pitcher there is,” Montgomery said. “So if something is ever out of whack, he’s got a different way to tell you every day. If that doesn’t stick, he’ll try another way of saying it.”
In addition to Montgomery, two of the Rangers’ other trade deadline acquisitions — Stratton and future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer — are former Maddux pupils. Stratton briefly worked with Maddux after coming to the Cardinals last season. Scherzer won the 2016 and 2017 NL Cy Young Awards with Maddux as his pitching coach in Washington.
With the Nationals, Dusty Baker was the manager. Baker said this past weekend that Maddux is one of the best game planners he has ever been around. Scherzer agreed. He also noted how Maddux’s approach has stood the test of time.
“To have him two years in D.C. and then come back to him after a handful of years, the game has changed, I feel like even since six years ago — what everybody is thinking and how they attack you,” Scherzer said. “So to get his perspective on the different minutia, things that happen in a start, what he’s seeing, where his mind is at, it’s a great kind of check for me.”
Like any good pitching coach, Maddux has his quirks. Sometimes a mound visit will consist of nothing more than a zinging joke. But he makes a point to put a fatherly arm on his pitcher’s shoulder anytime he goes out to talk.
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He also has a nickname for every one of his players and goes through them all in pregame high-five lines.
“I don’t even know if he knows everybody’s real name,” Stratton joked.
Some of the nicknames are standard stuff. Montgomery, for example, is simply “Monty.” When Stratton came to the Cardinals last summer, Maddux began calling the Mississippi native “Redneck.”
Again, Maddux proved adaptable.
“Quickly, he realized that I wasn’t really a redneck,” Stratton said. “So then he started calling me ‘Tupelo,’ where I’m from. I’ve been Tupelo ever since.”
This is all part of what makes Maddux beloved. And as the Rangers enter Wednesday’s ALCS Game 3 with a 2-0 series lead, Maddux’s impact is appearing more valuable than ever.
“For me to have him along my side, I’m lucky,” Bochy said. “I know it. Great way about him, great sense of humor, wisdom, a guy I rely on, talking about the pitching, bullpen, things like that. Somebody my age, too.”
Bochy, 68, stopped and chuckled.
“Well, I can’t say that,” Bochy said. “He’ll get mad. He’s younger than I am.”
Through dominant outings and bullpen blowups, Maddux has been another steady presence for the Rangers. His hands are almost always in the pocket of his hoodie, signaling calm. His calling-card mustache is ever-present, signifying years of wisdom.
And Wednesday night after the Rangers play Game 3 of the ALCS, Maddux will return to his own DFW home.
Turns out that’s plenty of rest for him.
“I get to sleep in my own bed,” he said. “That was the semi-retirement I needed.”
GO DEEPER
Rangers win AL pennant, validate status as team of destiny
(Top photo: Mitch Stringer / USA Today)
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