New pitching coach Mike Maddux excited: "What an inventory of arms over here"

When the Texas Rangers surprisingly decided on firing pitching coach Mike Maddux after last season, the Nationals wasted no time jumping on the opportunity to bring him aboard. A brief conversation with new Nationals manager Dusty Baker a few years ago in Oakland established a memorable connection for Maddux, making the transition enticing.

"You never know when you're gonna be talking to somebody you're gonna be working with," Maddux said earlier this month. "We had a nice chat in the dugout in Oakland a couple years ago and just kind of mentioned, 'Hey, it would be kind of cool to work together.' I kind of felt real at ease with him. We just chatted 30 minutes on a whole different subject. We weren't even talking about baseball a whole lot."

Maddux, whose younger brother is Hall of Fame hurler Greg Maddux, pitched for nine different teams over his 15-year career in the majors. He began his career as a starter before quickly transitioning into a reliever while compiling a 39-37 record with a 4.05 ERA in 472 appearances.

Mike Maddux retired in 2000 and became pitching coach of the Double-A Round Rock Express - a Rangers minor league club owned by Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan - the same year. In 2003, Maddux moved on to coach the staff of arms in Milwaukee. And then, in 2008, he took over the Rangers pitching staff, which had just finished last in the majors in ERA. He remained the Rangers pitching coach for the next seven seasons before the Rangers dismissed him at the end of October. During his tenure, the Rangers had a 612-523 record with a 4.06 ERA, reaching the playoffs four times and the World Series twice.

"My general philosophy as a pitching coach: Command the fastball, change speeds," Maddux said. "Bottom line. That's what you gotta do. And if you can't command the fastball, you better have some good stuff."

Now Maddux gets the opportunity to handle a talented staff of arms in Washington, even with the departures of right-handers Jordan Zimmermann and Doug Fister through free agency.

"What an inventory of arms over here, man," proclaimed an excited Maddux. "I look at a rotation that features Max Scherzer up top ... Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez, Joe Ross, Tanner Roark. Everybody's got their own little shtick going on there. One guy is pitching with two (different) colored eyes. Another guy is pitching with his ears out there. You got the one lefty in there and then you got the younger brother of another guy out there. And then you got old Tanner that just come out of nowhere a couple years ago and wins 15 ballgames and then goes and sits on his thumb last year out in the bullpen. It's a very interesting mix of what we have."

The Nationals rotation was solid last year, but certainly didn't end up as the juggernaut most predicted during an offseason filled with hype.

"My challenge to everybody is to be better than you are," Maddux said. "I mean, why not overachieve? You've been given all this talent and everybody else has talent. What separates us from the next guy? It's got to be your mental approach. So that's what I'm gonna work on with everybody. How do I overachieve? That's what I want to do. The biggest compliment you can give any player is that he was an overachiever."

Besides the starters, Maddux will have to mold a bullpen that's been overhauled this winter. Four new arms - right-handers Trevor Gott, Shawn Kelley and Yusmeiro Petit, and left-hander Oliver Perez joined the staff of relievers this month.

"The recent additions, man, they've proven to get people out," Maddux said. "I think that's big. That's really gonna bridge that gap and just be an extension of the starter where we can get that thing to the eighth and ninth."

The question still remains who will handle the eighth and ninth for the Nats. Currently, right-handers Drew Storen and Jonathan Papelbon surprisingly remain on the roster.