{"id":706893,"date":"2026-05-23T20:39:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T20:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/706893\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T20:39:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T20:39:27","slug":"would-greg-maddux-still-thrive-in-the-abs-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/706893\/","title":{"rendered":"Would Greg Maddux still thrive in the ABS era?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark Straus, a Rockies fan from Glenwood Springs, posed the question. In essence, he wanted to know how Greg Maddux would fare in today\u2019s era with the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

From 1986 to 2008, Maddux was baseball\u2019s ultimate control pitcher, and home plate umpires were his friends. He won 335 games and posted a 3.16 ERA. The right-hander struck out 3,371 batters and walked just 999.\n<\/p>\n

For those too young to remember, here\u2019s the introduction to Maddux\u2019s profile <\/a>on the National Baseball Hall of Fame\u2019s website:<\/p>\n

\u201cAt times, Greg Maddux\u2019s mastery of the strike zone seemed effortless.\u00a0Fastball down-and-away \u2013 on the black \u2013 for strike one. Fastball in on the hands for strike two. Change-up away for strike three.<\/p>\n

\u201cPitch after pitch, strike after strike for the average-looking right-hander who elevated \u201ccontrol\u201d to a new definition in the 1990s.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pitchers like Maddux and Tom Glavine, his Atlanta teammate, were craftsmen, pitching on the edges and moving the ball around the plate. There was a well-founded perception that umpires gave them an expanded strike zone. When the duo was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014, the running joke was that they should receive extra-wide plaques.\n<\/p>\n

There is no question that ABS has changed the game that Maddux and Glavine knew. As of last week, the majors\u2019 walk rate (9.4%) is 1% higher than last year\u2019s end-of-season figure. If the current rate holds up for the rest of the season, it would be the highest since 2000. Only five seasons have produced a walk rate higher than 9.5%: 1948 to 1951 and 2000.\n<\/p>\n

Like Mark from Glenwood Springs, I was intrigued by the Maddux Question. So I asked around about how Maddux would fare in the ABS era.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he would have been still great because the decision on when to challenge would be tough, because he was so good at hitting his spots,\u201d said John Smoltz, the third member of the Braves\u2019 formidable rotation<\/a> of the 1990s. Smoltz entered Cooperstown in 2015 and is now Fox Sports\u2019 lead baseball analyst.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the two challenges would have to be perfect all the time by the hitters,\u201d Smoltz continued. \u201cPeople don\u2019t realize that the art of pitching is to put pressure on the hitter to decide to swing or not, and for the umpire to call a strike or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaddux could throw a strike any time he wanted, but he could also put it on the corners any time he wanted. Good luck to the hitters who could recognize a ball out of his hand. Or stay off his changeup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jayson Stark, the Hall of Fame baseball writer<\/a> for The Athletic, pondered the Maddux Question and gave me a terrific answer.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is so fun to think about,\u201d Stark said. \u201cWould ABS have forced Maddux to pitch differently? Absolutely. But would he have figured it out? Of course, he would. He\u2019s Greg Maddux. He was a pitching genius.<\/p>\n

\"StartingStarting pitcher Greg Maddux #31 of the Atlanta Braves delivers against the San Francisco Giants during the second inning of game three of the National League Western Division Series on October 5, 2002 at the Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco, California. The Braves won 10-2. (Photo by Harry How\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019d have cracked the code of ABS before anyone else even knew there was a code. I wish I could haul out my time machine and see how he would have done it.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I asked Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer the question, he got a little spicy.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreg Maddux would make the adjustments he needed to make and would still be one of the greatest pitchers of all time,\u201d Schaeffer said. \u201cHe\u2019s one of one.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I pointed out that Maddux\u2019s reputation effectively turned balls out of the zone into strikes \u2014 at least in the eyes of the umpires, Schaeffer had a ready answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, that helped, at times, and I\u2019ve seen videos of umpires giving him pitches this far off,\u201d Schaffer said, holding his index fingers about 5 inches apart. \u201cBut today, he would find ways to get hitters out. I guarantee it.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaddux was the greatest of all time doing that \u2014 putting it where he wants to. The greatest of all time. OK, it\u2019s hard for me to say the greatest of all-time. I\u2019m 41 years old, and I don\u2019t know everything. But as far as what I have seen and what I grew up watching, Greg Maddux was the greatest of all time (controlling pitches). So, of course, Greg Maddux would succeed now.\u00a0 But it\u2019s a good question.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, it is. So thanks, Mark Straus from Glenwood Springs.<\/p>\n

Want more Rockies news? Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mark Straus, a Rockies fan from Glenwood Springs, posed the question. In essence, he wanted to know how…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":706894,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2394],"tags":[191,46,4166,5,1708,192,52,4722,1222,4723,853,4,1027,185,9130],"class_list":["post-706893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-atlanta-braves","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-atlantabraves","tag-baseball","tag-baseball-hall-of-fame","tag-braves","tag-colorado-rockies","tag-greg-maddux","tag-hall-of-fame","tag-john-smoltz","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mlb","tag-more-rockies-news","tag-sports","tag-warren-schaeffer"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116625825054918241","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=706893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/706894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=706893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=706893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=706893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}