Former Foes: Mike Maddux Excited to Join Bruce Bochy on Rangers
New Texas Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux and new manager Bruce Bochy go way back. But as Major League players and coaches, the pair have never worked together before.
That will change in 2023, now that Maddux is returning to the franchise where he served as pitching coach under Ron Washington form 2009-15.
“Boch has always been a contemporary from across the field,” Maddux said on Tuesday when he met with the Dallas-Fort Worth media for the first time since the announcement of his hiring last week.
The pair did overlap for two years as players. Maddux broke into the Majors in 1986 with the Philadelphia Phillies. Bochy was wrapping up a career as a back-up catcher in 1987 with the San Diego Padres.
They played in the same game once, on Aug. 23, 1986, in San Diego. Maddux was the starting pitcher for the Phillies and went six innings in a 12-inning contest. Bochy entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the 12th inning and drove in Tony Gwynn off Phillies reliever Kent Tekulve to win it.
But back in the day, there were opportunities to meet in the offseason, too.
“Boch and I did baseball camps back in the 1980s in Las Vegas, way back when,” Maddux said.
Maddux and his Hall of Fame brother, Greg Maddux, grew up in Las Vegas.
From there, Maddux enjoyed an itinerant 15-year MLB career with 10 different teams, going 39-37 with a 4.05 ERA. Bochy became manager of the San Diego Padres in 1995. At the time Maddux was with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Maddux was in the American League for part of 1995 and the 1996 season with Boston, followed by a one-year stint with Seattle in 1997. From there, he returned to the National League and squared off with Bochy’s Padres with Montreal Expos (1998-99), the Los Angeles Dodgers (1999) and Houston Astros (2000).
Maddux’s coaching career intermingled with Bochy’s as well, but from across the field. Maddux was pitching coach for the Milwaukee Brewers from 2003-08, with the Washington Nationals from 2016-17 and with the St. Louis Cardinals from 2018-22, while Bochy was with the San Francisco Giants from 2007-19.
Finally getting to experience working for Bochy is something Maddux is looking forward to.
“His track record is, you know … I worked with Wash and it was fantastic,” Maddux said. “I worked with Dusty Baker (in Washington). Fantastic. And you look at Bochy’s record and it’s better than both of those guys. So I'm looking very forward to working with him.”
With the Rangers from 2009-15, Maddux coached a pitching staff that helped the Rangers reach the World Series in 2010 and 2011 and was instrumental in the development of young pitchers like C.J. Wilson, Derek Holland, Matt Harrison and closer Neftali Feliz.
Maddux replaces last season’s co-pitching coaches, Doug Mathis and Brendan Sagara. Mathis was let go while Sagara was re-assigned in the organization.
Otherwise, the Rangers coaching staff from 2022, remains the same, with interim manager Tony Beasley moving back to third base coach. The only addition to the coaching staff is the hiring in Will Venable, who is joining the Rangers as an associate manager.
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