51s coaches say pitcher’s ability shined through
When it comes to making a round object move, the Greg Maddux bobblehead doll that was given away by the 51s on Saturday night at Cashman Field has nothing on its namesake.
Maddux, a Las Vegan who will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame today in Cooperstown, N.Y., won 355 games, four straight Cy Young Awards and a record 18 Gold Gloves in a 23-year career during which he relied mostly on movement, location and changing speeds to get batters out.
Las Vegas manager Wally Backman and pitching coach Frank Viola each competed against Maddux early in his career, when he was with the Chicago Cubs, and saw glimpses of his greatness.
Trying to recall how he fared against Maddux before the 51s’ 5-2 loss to Salt Lake, Backman said, “I think I hit him OK.”
A .275 career hitter who batted .320 for the 1986 New York Mets’ world title team, Backman was a bit surprised to learn the numbers showed otherwise.
In 24 plate appearances against the right-hander, Backman went 4-for-20 with a double and three RBIs, four walks and five strikeouts.
“That’s why he’s a Hall of Famer,” he said. “I was comfortable facing him, and if the numbers say .200, then he was successful against me. Greg was a frustrating guy to face because you go back (to the dugout) thinking, ‘God dang, he’s not throwing the ball by you.’ He wasn’t a power guy, but he still got his strikeouts.
“He kept hitters off balance all the time with pinpoint control and the ability to pitch to different angles. He never threw two pitches the same in the same spot.”
Backman said “The Professor” was one of the few pitchers that forced him to adjust his approach at the plate.
“He was the one guy I had to try to pull the ball against. He pitched to my weakness all the time,” he said. “He was a student of the game. He knew the weaknesses of hitters.
“I like to hit the ball the other way out over the plate, and he pitched me in quite a bit — (but) not always, because he’d mess with guys’ minds, pitching you different all the time. If you started guessing, he’d screw you up worse.”
Viola, the 1987 World Series Most Valuable Player and 1988 Cy Young Award winner for the Minnesota Twins, played parts of three seasons in the National League for the Mets from 1989 to 1991 — during which time he marveled at Maddux’s evolution on the mound.
“The thing that impressed me most about him was he’s a guy that came into the game as a power pitcher and he realized a little time into it that he didn’t have to throw 95 (mph) to be successful,” Viola said. “When he first came up, he was throwing real hard — low to mid-90s — but he wasn’t getting anybody out. Then he realized power’s not the answer. It’s learning how to finesse and be a smart pitcher.
“That’s when he started backing down (his velocity) a little bit, but spotting the ball and running the ball and doing stuff that you see kids trying to do today. He brought about what pitching is all about, in my opinion. He was a true bona fide pitcher.”
Viola said “strike one” was the biggest key to Maddux’s success.
“Pounding the strike zone. He did that his whole career,” he said. “And as the umpires got to know him, they knew if he was around the plate he’s going to get the strike call. So hitters became more aggressive because they knew if they fell behind he was going to finesse the hell out of them.
“That becomes very advantageous for (Maddux), and he took that for his whole career and rode it to 355 wins.
“I thought I had a pretty good career, and I won 176 games. When you win 300 games, you’re doing something right. From that standpoint, it’s incredible.”
Viola also is impressed with the fact that, like himself, Maddux excelled in the Steroid Era.
“To pitch in the Steroid Era and be as successful as he was, you’ve got to give him kudos, because to do it right and have someone else try to enhance his performance, that says a lot for what we were able to accomplish,” he said.
Maddux was armed with one of the best changeups ever, said the left-handed Viola, who possessed a pretty good one himself.
“For some reason, when you say changeup, you don’t usually pinpoint it to right-handed pitchers,” he said. “If you’re a right-handed pitcher with a really good changeup that people talk about — Pedro (Martinez) is another one — you’re saying a lot.
“For the period of time Greg threw it, it was pretty impressive, so he’s got to be up there with maybe one of the best changeups in the history of the game.”
As for Sports Illustrated’s assertion in 1995 that Maddux is “the best right-handed pitcher you’ll ever see,” Viola begs to differ.
“I would probably argue that point,” he said. “There’s a lot of great right-handers. You can’t just pinpoint one guy.
“In the history of the game, putting Maddux No. 1, that’s a hell of a call by whoever made that. I’d put him in the top 15 or 20, but I don’t know about the top 1. There’s a lot of other guys you could argue.”
Backman also stopped short of ranking Maddux No .1, saying the best pitcher he faced was Nolan Ryan.
“Ryan’s one of the best, by far, because he’s a power guy. He could overpower hitters, and he had a breaking ball that he could tell you it was coming, but if he threw it right, you couldn’t hit it,” Backman said.
“(Maddux is) in the top five, probably. But guys I’ve faced, longevitywise, Ryan ranks right at the top.”
■ NOTE — Las Vegas (60-49) loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth, but Brandon Allen popped out to second and Matt den Dekker grounded into a game-ending double play.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354. Follow him on Twitter: @tdewey33.
