Greg Maddux is one of the greatest pitchers in the history of the game. He was certainly one of the greatest of his generation. Maddux was a precision pitcher with pinpoint control and good movement, but he didn’t overpower anyone. There were some hitters who simply had Maddux’s number. That didn’t stop him from dominating the rest of the league and finding ways to pitch around these guys.
Top 25 Hitters (Highest OPS) vs. Greg Maddux (Min. 50 PAs)
- Mike Lowell (1.068 OPS, 53 PAs)
- Andy Van Slyke (1.063 OPS, 79 PAs)
- Geoff Jenkins (1.035 OPS, 67 PAs)
- Bobby Abreu (1.029 OPS, 60 PAs)
- Tony Gwynn (1.024 OPS, 103 PAs)
- Luis Gonzalez (994 OPS, 126 PAs)
- Pat Burrell (.988 OPS, 53 PAs)
- Fred McGriff (.979 OPS, 50 PAs)
- Orlando Cabrera (.976 OPS, 50 PAs)
- Howard Johnson (.958 OPS, 85 PAs)
- Bill Doran (.949 OPS, 57 PAs)
- Jeff Bagwell (.948 OPS, 91 PAs)
- Jeff Kent (.930 OPS, 94 PAs)
- Benito Santiago (.919 OPS, 91 PAs)
- Hal Morris (.906 OPS, 55 PAs)
- Scott Rolen (.892 OPS, 82 PAs)
- Adam Dunn (.889 OPS, 50 PAs)
- Tim Raines (.881 OPS, 51 PAs)
- Mickey Morandini (.866 OPS, 51 PAs)
- Vinny Castilla (.862 OPS, 50 PAs)
- Barry Bonds (.855 OPS, 154 PAs)
- Gregg Jefferies (.844 OPS, 95 PAs)
- Todd Helton (.838 OPS, 60 PAs)
- Gary Sheffield (.822 OPS, 59 PAs)
- Ray Lankford (.820 OPS, 108 PAs)
There are some unsurprising names on this list such as Hall of Famers like Scott Rolen, Todd Helton, Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, and Tony Gwynn.
We recently documented how good Barry Bonds was against Greg Maddux over his career. MLB Network’s Greg Maddux documentary even had a great clip of Bonds and Maddux independently breaking down one at-bat in which resulted in a Bonds home run off of Maddux.
Adam Dunn had a career .854 OPS. All he did was hit homers and take walks.
How did these guys own Greg Maddux like this? It’s hard to say exactly why some hitters see things better from some pitchers. We offer some insightful comments from Tony Gwynn at the bottom of the post. Gwynn explains why he thought it was EASIER to hit off Maddux than a power pitcher. He says it right in front of the Professor, too. Watch the video!
Gregg Jefferies vs. Greg Maddux
Gregg Jefferies in an interesting name on the list. Jefferies played 14 seasons between 1987-2000. He spent time with six different teams, but most (5 seasons) came with the Mets. For his career, Jefferies slashed .289/.344/.421 with 126 career homers. His 162-game average for homers was 14. Good hitter, good OBP guy, and even packed a little pop with a .421 career slugging percentage.
Jefferies slashed .262/.370/.485 off Maddux in his career. He was a better hitter when facing Maddux. His 30 hits off of the Mad Dog are the sixth-most all time.
Tony Gwynn vs. Greg Maddux
Tony Gwynn has the most all-time hits off of Maddux with 39 despite having just 91 ABs. Gwynn is the only player in the top four in hits vs. Maddux to have fewer than 115 ABs. Pretty impressive that he has the most hits all time and in just 91 at-bats!
Gwynn posted a .429 career average off of Greg Maddux and these weren’t slap singles. Tony Gwynn slugged .538 off the Braves’ pitching legend. In typical Gwynn fashion, he bolstered his slugging numbers while racking up exactly zero homers off the Professor. Gwynn had eight doubles and a triple off Maddux.
His 1.024 OPS is the fifth-best on our list.
In 103 PAs against Greg Maddux, Tony Gwynn had zero strikeouts.
All hail Tony Gwynn!
Tony Gwynn was asked in the video above if preparing for a pitcher like Maddux was more difficult than a power pitcher. Gwynn said it’s actually easier because a guy like Maddux is going to be all over the plate.
He also mentioned taking what Maddux gives you. You can do these things when you are a professional hitter capable of the old cliche: hitting it where it’s pitched. Tony Gwynn is one of the best that ever lived to do that.
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