Mike Maddux
Mike Maddux
Michael Ausley Madduxis an American pitching coach and former professional baseball pitcher who played for nine teams over 15 seasons in Major League Baseball. He played in MLB from 1986 through 2000 for the Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Red Sox, Seattle Mariners, Montreal Expos, and Houston Astros. Except for the Phillies, for whom he played during the first four seasons of his career, Maddux never played more than two seasons...
ProfessionBaseball Player
Date of Birth27 August 1961
CityDayton, OH
We'll try to double up the best we can.
We just didn't score. If a ball took a bad hop, it was in his game. If we booted a ball, it was when he was out there.
For two years he's been absolutely lights out, under the radar, and I think that's fine with him. If he keeps pitching like that, he won't be a secret much longer.
Basically, when Vic is down, he's pretty good. When he's up, the hitters are pretty good. His stuff's fine. It's a matter of keeping the ball down, locating the pitches and changing speeds.
I was going to let him go out of the windup to 80 pitches. If anything was in the stretch, he was out. He could have finished that inning. But we had a number in our mind. You know six innings was a bonus.
We gave it a whirl. He said some things and I thought about it. He had been pretty effective where he was. After I thought about it, I was disappointed in myself for even suggesting it.
Derrick was a guy who was on scholarship for his service time. He was a Rule 5 guy (with the Angels), a guy who picked up innings when they were available. He had never been the go-to guy, a guy that was a big part of the bullpen. Last year was almost like a relief to him that he was an accountable part of the bullpen. He anchored the bullpen for us. We look forward to that this year.
Eventually, it's up to the players. This is a performance game.
It's a guy doing a little too much. There is a lot of competition in camp and everybody wants to shine. It's nice that we have competition in camp, and sometimes everybody is a little guilty of overthrowing. You have to settle down a little bit.
We accomplished a lot. That's the luxury of throwing on the side. You can get things done.
A year ago, you couldn't get the word 'Boo!' out of him. Now, you can't shut him up.
He's got good movement and he sets up hitters well. For him, it's more a matter of timing.
He's been easy to work with and he does his homework.
Outstanding. The hitters will let you know if it's good or bad and I think the hitters told us it was pretty good.