The Los Angeles Angels fired pitching coach Mike Maddux and two of his assistants Tuesday after interim general manager John Mozeliak determined the team wasn't making sufficient use of the technology and analytics available to its pitchers.
Assistant pitching coach Darryl Scott and bullpen coach Dom Chiti were also fired in a shake-up of first-year manager Kurt Suzuki's staff with just 43 games remaining for the Angels, who have the majors' worst record at 45-74.
The Angels' pitching staff has a 4.51 ERA -- seventh worst in the majors -- and the most walks in MLB (508) through Monday's games.
While Mozeliak said that "no one thing just stood out" in his decision to fire Maddux, he prominently cited his desire for the Angels to "use all the different tools that you see a lot of pitchers use today."
"I think there was becoming some level of frustration with the inconsistency of that, and so ultimately that's when we started thinking about, 'Do we need to make a change?'" Mozeliak said. "I do feel like we have a lot of great resources that we could be taking [greater] advantage of."
Tim Leveque has been named interim pitching coach, and Michael Wuertz will serve as interim bullpen coach.
Leveque is in his first season as the pitching coach at the Angels' Double-A Rocket City affiliate after working in the Cardinals organization during Mozeliak's lengthy tenure with that club.
"He's a smart guy who really understands where the game is at, and I think he'll be a good resource for [Suzuki]," Mozeliak said of Leveque.
The dismissals were the latest shake-up in a tumultuous year for the Angels, who fired general manager Perry Minasian in late June. Los Angeles is headed toward its 11th consecutive losing season and 12th straight non-playoff season, both the longest active droughts in the majors, under much-criticized owner Arte Moreno.
"I appreciated everything that they did," Suzuki said of the fired coaches. "They worked hard. They prepared. At the end of the day, Mo and I felt like the path moving forward in these last 43 games ... we felt like this was the best way."
Angels left-hander Reid Detmers, whose 1.10 WHIP is the 14th best in the majors, said "everybody is surprised" by the firings.
"I mean, if we have it, might as well use it, right?" said Detmers, who evaluates his biomechanics in every bullpen session and consults with his personal coaches during the season. "I'm not saying we didn't use it all the time, but there's definitely times where we could have used it. In my eyes, it's only going to make you better."
Mozeliak, the longtime St. Louis Cardinals general manager, agreed to take over baseball operations for Moreno on a temporary basis after Minasian's firing, and he has endeavored to modernize the Halos' long-struggling organization.
Mozeliak said the Angels have technology and information on par with the rest of the majors, and he's confident it is being used properly by Suzuki's offensive staff -- but the pitching operation needed an urgent overhaul.
"There's so many more resources out there that really every team in baseball is utilizing, so (we're) just making sure that the Angels are up to speed with that and leveraging this," Mozeliak said. "I know our research and development team upstairs, they're providing a lot of useful things that I think we can be taking advantage of. And then moving forward ... what can we do to make this a state-of-the-art place for player growth? What you don't want to do is have players outsourcing those types of things. You want it to be the internal model, and hopefully we can accomplish that."
Maddux, who turns 65 on Aug. 27, signed a one-year contract with the Angels in the offseason.
He pitched 15 years in the major leagues and has served as a pitching coach for five different teams through 24 seasons, leading staffs for the Milwaukee Brewers (2003 to 2008), Washington Nationals (2016 to 2017), St. Louis Cardinals (2018 to 2022), Texas Rangers (2009 to 2015, then 2023 to 2025) and Angels.
His biggest influence came in Texas, where he won a championship in 2023 and was instrumental in the development of numerous pitchers. Under Maddux, the Rangers boasted the best ERA in the majors in 2025.
Chiti was in his first season as the bullpen coach after rejoining the Angels organization in late 2023. Scott also was in his first season with the Angels after several years with the Colorado Rockies.
ESPN's Alden Gonzalez and The Associated Press contributed to this report.