Nationals hire Mike Maddux as pitching coach

Bob Nightengale | USA TODAY Sports

The Washington Nationals have hired vaunted pitching coach Mike Maddux, who is expected to be introduced Thursday morning along with new manager Dusty Baker at Nationals Park.

Maddux, widely considered one of the game’s finest pitching coaches, was actually hired just after Baker.

While the Nationals have been heavily criticized for the handling of their managerial negotiations, breaking off negotiations with Black and settling on a two-year deal worth $4 million with Baker, Maddux will become perhaps the highest-paid pitching coach in Major League Baseball.

Maddux’s pitching staff won 612 games with a 4.04 ERA during his eight years in Texas, the third-most victories behind the New York Yankees Los Angeles Angels, reaching the postseason four times with two American League pennants. Maddux turned around a Rangers staff that yielded a 5.04 ERA in 15 seasons at Globe Life Park, with no season under 4.00_including an MLB-worst 5.37 ERA in 2008. In Maddux’s tenure, they produced a 4.07 home ERA with four consecutive seasons with a sub-4.00 ERA.

The Rangers’ 5.14 ERA from 2000 to 2008 was the worst in the American League during that span, while their 3.83 ERA from 2010 to 13 was third-best among AL pitching staffs. He had five pitchers become All-Stars: C.J. Wilson, Matt Harrison, Alexi Ogando, Neftali Feliz and Yu Darvish.

The Nats contacted Maddux two weeks ago when the Texas Rangers provided a free-agent window for him to negotiate with any team. When his contract expired last Saturday, and Maddux did not sign an extension, he and the Rangers parted company, and the Nats swooped in to finalize a contact.

“Mike did a lot of good in that regard in helping us change the mindset,” Rangers GM Jon Daniels said last week. “Mike worked hard at created a confidence level in the staff and the organization that if you go out, put your work in and execute your pitches, you’re going to have success.