Hire Mad Dog now!
It’s a crime that Greg Maddux isn’t employed by the organization that knows him best. How do you let that mind work for another team?
Craig Kimbrel is the latest to marvel at Mad Dog’s baseball smarts.
With a man on second base and Yadier Molina on deck, Kimbrel told Maddux he had no desire to intentionally walk Carlos Beltran. Maddux, who was serving as Team USA’s pitching coach, responded by saying “Let’s throw two fastballs up and see if we can get him to pop it up.”
Beltran did his part to add to Maddux’s legend by popping Kimbrel’s first-pitch fastball to shortstop Jimmy Rollins.
“I was like you are a genius,” Kimbrel said of his reaction to Maddux after he returned to the dugout. “How did you do that? Like you knew that was going to happen. I was like you want to come out here every time and tell me where to throw it.”
He’d be a brilliant manager. Instead we’ll have Fredi for the next decade.