The Los Angeles Angels, at the bottom of the baseball standings, fired pitching coach Mike Maddux, bullpen coach Dom Chiti and assistant pitching coach Darryl Scott on Tuesday.
The Angels named Tim Leveque as interim pitching coach and Michael Wuertz as interim bullpen coach.
“After spending time discussing with (manager) Kurt (Suzuki) where we are as a coaching staff and where we want to go in the future, we felt it was best to make a change,” John Mozeliak, the Angels baseball operations consultant and interim general manager, said in a statement ahead of a press conference scheduled for later in the day. “With seven weeks remaining, we plan to use this time to evaluate what additional steps are needed to elevate our entire pitching program and best position us for success moving forward.”
Going into Tuesday, the Angels have the worst record in baseball at 45-74, are 15 1/2 games behind the American League West-leading Houston Astros and 15 games out of the AL wild-card race.
The Angels rank 11th in the AL and 24th in the majors with a 4.51 ERA. They are first in MLB in most walks (508) and third in wild pitches (48), though seventh in most strikeouts (1,064). They are 24th in quality starts (34).
Opposing hitters are batting .236 against the staff, which is eighth-lowest in the majors.
Maddux joined the Angels in the offseason after serving as pitching coach with the Astros, Washington Nationals, St. Louis Cardinals and two separate tenures with the Texas Rangers, including the 2023 World Series champions. The Rangers led the majors in ERA in 2025 (3.47), but afterward parted ways with manager Bruce Bochy and replaced him with Skip Schumaker.
Maddux, who turns 65 on Aug. 27, pitched 15 years in the majors (1986-2000) for nine different teams, though not the Angels. The right-hander is the older brother of Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux.
Chiti, 67, was a left-hander in the minor leagues from 1976-81. A coach at various levels starting in 1982, Chiti worked for the Angels from 2020-22, for the New York Mets in 2023, and then again for the Angels in 2023 as their minor league pitching coordinator before becoming the bullpen coach this season.
Scott, who turned 58 on Aug. 6, is a right-hander who pitched one major league season in 1993 for the then-California Angels. He was on the staff of the Colorado Rockies for the 2020-25 seasons.
Leveque, 45, joined the organization this season as Double-A Rocket City’s pitching coaching after the previous 20 seasons with the Cardinals organization. A 1999 draft pick by the Detroit Tigers out of high school, Leveque pitched at the University of Michigan (2000-03).
Wuertz, 47, is in his 11th season with the Angels organization in various capacities and was serving as the minor league assistant pitching coordinator. The right-hander pitched in the majors for the Chicago Cubs (2004-08) and Oakland Athletics (2009-11).
–Field Level Media
Comments