Mike Maddux is returning to the Texas Rangers as pitching coach.

Mike Maddux will make a return to his former role as pitching coach with the Texas Rangers, joining the staff of new manager Bruce Bochy.

The club announced the move Wednesday, as well as revealing that former Kansas City Royals general manager Dayton Moore will join the Rangers as a senior advisor to the baseball operations department.

Maddux, 61, was first a major league pitching coach with the Milwaukee Brewers from 2003-08. He then began a seven-year stint with the Rangers that lasted until 2015. He also was a pitching coach with the Washington Nationals (2016-17) and St. Louis Cardinals through last season.

Maddux, who is the brother of Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux, pitched in the major leagues himself for 15 seasons. He went 39-37 with a 4.05 ERA in 472 appearances (48 starts) for nine different teams.

Moore, 55, took over as the Royals’ general manager in 2006 and helped lead the team to a pair of World Series appearances, including the 2015 title. He was promoted to president of baseball operations before the start of last season but was dismissed in September.

Pujols, Verlander win Comeback Player of Year honors

St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols and Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander earned Comeback Player of the Year honors for the National League and American League, respectively/

Pujols won the NL honor after closing out his career with the St. Louis Cardinals. Verlander took AL honors just after unanimously winning the AL Cy Young Award.

Pujols, 42, batted .270 with 24 homers and 68 RBIs in 109 games in the final season of his 22-year career. It was his second tour of duty with St. Louis as he previously spent 11 seasons with the franchise (2001-11) before also playing for the Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers.

Pujols was released by the Angels in May 2021 before finishing the season with the Dodgers. But he rebounded in 2022 and hit his most homers since 2016 during his return to the Cardinals and completed his career ranked fourth in homers (703), second in RBIs (2,218) and ninth in hits (3,384).

Verlander, 39, missed the entire 2021 season due to Tommy John surgery but recovered to go 18-4 with a major-league-best 1.75 ERA in 28 starts. He also led the AL in wins, WHIP (0.83) and opponents’ batting average (.186).

Verlander struck out 185 in 175 innings while winning the Cy Young Award for the third time in his 17-year career. His ERA was the lowest in Astros history and the best in the AL since Boston’s Pedro Martinez had a 1.74 ERA in 2000.

The winners were determined by voting from the 30 beat reporters from MLB.com.

Harper has Tommy John surgery

Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper underwent Tommy John surgery on his right elbow on Wednesday and might not return until close to the All-Star break, the team said.

The Phillies said Harper may be able to throw well enough to play right field near the end of the regular season.

Harper required the surgery to repair the torn ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing arm. The injury prevented him from playing right field for most of last season and he made 90 of his 99 regular-season appearances as the designated hitter.

The surgery was performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who routinely informs players of two options when conducting a repair. He will either do a full ligament reconstruction (Tommy John) or a lesser procedure.

When Angels star Shohei Ohtani underwent Tommy John surgery in October of 2018, he was able to return as a designated hitter seven months later, but he didn’t pitch at all during the 2019 season.