The St. Louis Cardinals are expected to make the announcement official on Thursday afternoon, that the club will hire Mike Maddux as the team’s pitching coach. The story was first reported on by Ken Rosenthal.
Maddux was most recently the pitching coach for the Washington Nationals under Dusty Baker. Baker was fired after the Nats lost to the Chicago Cubs in the NLDS. Maddux was not fired, but wasn’t re-signed. Maddux and St. Louis have agreed to terms.
Maddux will replace Derek Lilliquist who was fired at the end of the regular season.
In 2017, Washington had a team ERA of 3.88 (3rd in MLB). In 2016, Nationals pitchers posted a 3.51 ERA (2nd in MLB), his starting staff struck out an MLB-best 987 batters (tied with the 2003 Cubs for the second-most by any starting staff in baseball history), his relievers posted the best bullpen ERA in MLB at 3.35. Maddux came to Washington from the Texas Rangers where they earned four Postseason berths, and Maddux helped develop many Rangers pitchers…From 2010-13, the Rangers were one of just five clubs (along with ATL, STL, OAK, and TBR) to post four consecutive sub-4.00 team ERAs. Maddux joined Texas after six years (2003-08) with the Brewers as pitching coach where he oversaw a Brewers staff that ranked second in the NL with a 3.85 ERA in 2008.
In short, every where Maddux has coached, he has improved that club’s pitching staff.
