If you’ve had the displeasure to hear Todd Hollandsworth talk about baseball, or have a twitter account, you’ve run into one of the most aggressively wrong pieces of analysis in existence today: The Kyle Hendricks/Greg Maddux comp.
It’s honestly incredible that anyone could think that’s a valid comparison. I could write a thousand words on the wrongness of the idea that there is a meaningful comparison between the two pitchers other than the velocity they sit at (which is ALSO a bad comparison, since Maddux was low-90s through a pretty large portion of his career), but I’d rather not bore you. After all, if you’re reading my writing, you’re probably not making Maddux/Hendricks comps anyway.
Instead, here’s the payoff for clicking the link: a list of Other Greg Madduxes. A collection of pitchers who sat at very low velocities and had pretty alright control, which are seemingly the only qualifications needed to drop a dangerously stupid and unfair comp on a young pitcher. Pull these out on twitter whenever you come across a Hendricks/Maddux comp.
Other Greg Madduxes
- Shaun Marcum
- Wade LeBlance
- Andy Sonnanstine
- Josh Collmenter
- Tommy Milone
- Jason Vargas
- Eric Stults
- John Lannan
- Carlos Villanueva
- Doug Fister
- Paul Maholm
Are there good names there? Sure.
Any of them look like a Greg Maddux caliber pitcher?