ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Autograph seekers have asked Charlie Madden for his signature but only because they have misidentified him for several Red Sox players on the 26-man roster.
“I’ve gotten everything,” Madden said in Baltimore during Boston’s final regular season road trip. “I’ve gotten (Garrett) Whitlock. (Tanner) Houck. I’ve gotten him for years. For years. Someone called me (Kevin) Plawecki. I mean, Plawecki I get a lot if I walk out with my catchers glove.”
Madden was introduced with all the Red Sox players during the AL Wild Card Game pregame ceremonies at Fenway Park on Tuesday. But he’s someone who even hardcore fans might ask, “Who’s that?”
Boston drafted the 26-year-old catcher in the 24th round (731st overall) in 2017 out of Mercer University. He has played 117 minor league games, including 24 games for Double-A Portland in 2019.
He spent April at minor league spring training camp. The Red Sox initially assigned him to Triple-A Worcester. But the staff knew he was bright and felt he could help in the big leagues.
Director of player development Brian Abraham called Madden on May 8 to inform him he would be used as a taxi squad catcher.
“Enjoy it. We don’t know how long it will last,” Madden said Abraham told him.
It has lasted the entire season. Madden has traveled with Boston on every road trip starting with its three-game series in Dunedin against the Blue Jays from May 18-20. He also remained on the taxi squad for home games.
“It’s a year I never would have imagined,” Madden said. “It’s been awesome.”
The Red Sox view him as a potential future professional coach.
“The reason Charlie is here is because our staff knew he had all those qualities,” chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said at Tropicana Field on Wednesday. “And when you’re looking for someone to do this job, you want someone wired like Charlie; with a head on his shoulders like Charlie has. He’s been great as a part of this group. All the credit ... to our people who knew him and identified him as a good candidate for this.”
Red Sox Game 2 star Tanner Houck (5 innings, 1 run, 2 hits, 0 walks, 5 strikeouts in Boston’s 14-6 win over the Rays) said Madden has helped everyone in the clubhouse, especially him.
“Whether it was the hitting side of things or the pitching side of things,” Houck said. “He’s learning under (Jason) Varitek, Bushy (pitching coach Dave Bush). ... And just to have a guy that continues to soak in so much information and is smart enough to process it all and be able to speak baseball about it is the most beneficial thing. Because I can sit there and look at numbers and if I don’t understand what it means, it doesn’t help me.”
Madden and Houck both were drafted in 2017. They both were assigned to Short Season Lowell. The first time a fan seeking an autograph misidentified Madden for Houck was in Lowell.
The pitcher and catcher have been good friends ever since and worked out together in a church lot in Atlanta during the COVID shutdown.
Madden is an Atlanta native. He still lives there in the offseason. Houck spent time in Atlanta because his fianceé worked there.
“At his church, they have like a kickball field or just a field there,” Houck said. “So we’d go out there and I’d have two dozen baseballs and we’d just play catch. Parking lot right outside of a church and they had a grassy field that was on their property.”
Houck said Madden is able to break down analytics and present it in a simple, understandable way.
“He understands all of the analytical side but then he can sit there and talk about it in a baseball format and not just say, ‘Oh, well, the numbers are saying this,’” Houck said. “He can say, ‘From a hitter’s perspective I would probably see this.’ Or ‘In this situation, I’d probably be sitting (on this pitch) if I was facing you.’”
Houck asks Madden questions about pitch shape and how the baseball is coming out of his hand.
“He not only gives just another pitcher’s opinion, but a hitter’s opinion, which is beneficial because we’re trying to tap into their brain as much as they’re trying to tap into ours,” Houck said.
Madden earned his accounting degree at Mercer. He has passed all three sections of the CPA exam he already has taken. He plans to take the fourth and final part this coming offseason.
“I spent a lot of COVID studying for that,” said Madden who has interned as an accounting firm in Atlanta. “I really studied a lot as fun as that sounds.”
He and his fianceé Brianna Wahy plan to marry this offseason. They met in spring 2014, their freshmen year at Mercer where Wahy ran cross country.
Wahy graduated in May with her doctorate in physical therapy from Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Fla..
FGCU is only approximately eight miles from Boston’s spring training facility, JetBlue Park.
“She got in there before I got drafted,” Madden said. “So it worked out. We were fortunate there. But we’ve done long distance. We’re ready not to do it. She’s been nothing but awesome and supportive and understanding.”
Madden admitted he was nervous when the Red Sox first told him he was headed to Boston to join the taxi squad. He was staying at a hotel, waiting for the WooSox to return from their first road trip when Abraham called. Madden missed the WooSox’s first road trip because he stayed in Fort Myers for Wahy’s graduation ceremony.
Madden said the Red Sox didn’t assign him any tasks other than being a taxi squad catcher.
“I’ve tried to soak everything in,” he said. “Just kind of see what people do from the pitching side and offensively. So I’ve spent some time looking at video. Especially developing relationships with some guys on the pitching side. I care about how they do. Whether it’s good or bad, I’ll look at video and try to really follow what they’re working on or what they’re struggling with or what they’re doing well and try to pick their brains.”
He said all the players have treated him awesome.
“Everybody has so much more knowledge than me,” he said. “Guys have 10 years, close to 10 years. And they’re just dripping with information. I’m just soaking it all up. Garrett Richards has been awesome to me. (Adam) Ottavino. Of course (Chris) Sale, (Nathan) Eovaldi. Everybody. I could name everybody out there.”
Houck said Madden steps into the role “of whatever the Red Sox realistically need.”
“He’s not afraid to step up and say, ‘OK, I can do that,’” Houck said.
Madden said “there’s always been that thought” about someday coaching.
“I’m not going to rule anything out,” he said. “It all comes down to it being a career and advancement opportunities and what is best for me and my future wife because we’re getting married soon. It’s a different lifestyle for sure, a good one that I enjoy. I am not going to rule anything out. But I also don’t want to jump at any opportunity just because it’s there. I want to make sure it’s the right thing for me and my family.”
He’s unsure how much longer he’ll play baseball. He’s unsure what next season will bring.
“I’m open to it all,” Madden said. “Even non-baseball things. I hate to rule something out before I have to come to a decision. Just because you never know what will happen. ... There’s so many possibilities I have zero control over. So for me to set my sights on one thing, and get really high or really low with things, I don’t really like to try and do that. So I’m not ruling anything out. Will see what they really want from me as my employer, as my bosses.”
Madden feels fortunate and thankful to the Red Sox. He has enjoyed building new relationships and exploring visiting cities.
“It’s something that not many people get to experience,” Madden said. ‘And just to get to soak in the routine, the level of preparation and detail. I think it’s opened my eyes to a lot more things that matter that maybe don’t get highlighted as much and what I saw when I had been playing. Everything from the game plan offensively to base running. Just like the amount of information that is available to attack hitters and to attack pitchers as well.”
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