As Rangers start making personnel changes one person has to remain on staff

His brother, Greg, is one of the best pitchers in baseball history and a no-brainer first-ballot Hall of Famer. Still, Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux has always been happy to be a little less visible as long as he gets to work with pitchers every year.

By parting ways with Bruce Bochy after two disappointing seasons in a row, Rangers brass has signaled that widespread organizational changes are coming.

Then on Monday, the team's longtime catching coach Bobby Wilson announced he will not be returning to the Rangers' staff next season. It will be a mistake then to let Maddux jump ship as well.

Maddux's pitching staff wasn't the problem with this year's team

In 2025, Maddux, now 64, delivered arguably the finest group of hurlers in his prolific career. The team ERA of 3.47 was MLB's best, as he also dealt with a rash of injuries to key contributors like Nathan Eovaldi, Tyler Mahle, Chris Martin, Cody Bradford and others.

He was also able to get the first full season out of ace Jacob deGrom since 2019 by delicately massaging his workload. deGrom was finally able to make good on his big contract with 12 wins, a 2.97 ERA, and a 0.92 WHIP.

Maddux had his hands full managing a bullpen that was short a true closer and any real consistency all season long. Shawn Armstrong was the pen MVP and ended the year as the team's de facto closer.

Maddux's calming mound visits get results

Maddux's in-game trips to the mound have become somewhat of a phenomenon around the league, as he always extends one hand to the pitcher's shoulder and another to his battery mate's shoulder whenever he feels they need a moment to reset both mentally and physically.

There's no metric for it, even in today's advanced stat-crazy world, but more often than not, whoever is on the mound tends to right the ship afterwards. His zen-like approach is a big part of how he has earned the respect of his staff and manager over the years.

The organization would be foolish to overlook how important Maddux is to the success of the team. If they want to overhaul more coaches, then they should be looking in the direction of hitting coaches Bret Boone and Justin Viele first. New skipper Skip Schumaker's first order of business should be retaining his well-respected pitching coach.