Madden Takes Care of Business
Mar 28, 2005 | Baseball
March 28, 2005
NEW ORLEANS, La. - A postseason star on Tulane's 2001 College World Series team, Green Wave senior Scott Madden has been benched, shelved due to injury and used as a situational hitter in the years since. But as the old adage says - when life hands you lemons, make lemonade. And Madden has handled his adversity so well that he could put Kool-Aid out of business.
Along the way, Madden has been the pillar of stability in the classroom. He has earned Conference USA Commissioner's List honors in each of his previous four years at Tulane, and Dean's List recognition twice. In addition, he completed his business degree, and is currently pursuing a master's degree in finance.
Through the changes in his role on the team, one thing has not changed - his work ethic.
"It's been the same approach all the way through, and that's to keep working hard no matter what happens," said Madden, the lone holdover from Tulane's 2001 CWS team. "It's the only thing you can do and the only thing you can control.
"Through all the ups and downs of a career, the one thing you have to keep consistent is the hard work. If you're playing well and don't work hard, it'll eventually catch up with you and your production will go down. And when you're not playing well, you've got to work hard to get better."
That approach has served Madden well throughout his career, and was not lost on the Tulane coaching staff from day one.
One of four new catchers on the team in 2001, Madden was originally projected to redshirt the season. While he showed the coaching staff that he could handle himself at the plate, it would be defensively where Madden would make his most dramatic improvement.
"Offensively, I had seen him play a lot in high school so I knew he had a lot of power," head coach Rick Jones said. "But defensively, he wasn't where we needed him to be when the season opened. Then around March, (then volunteer assistant) Chad Sutter came up to me and said, `Scotty's really starting to catch well in the bullpen.'"
That day, Madden started an intra-squad game, hit a home run and impressed the coaches with this performance behind the plate. He would appear in his first collegiate game on March 9 vs. Siena, and while he would start just five games and tally only four hits during the regular season, he blossomed into a star in the postseason.
After becoming the full-time starter in game four of the Conference USA Tournament, Madden went on to hit .380 over the final 12 games of the season, earn C-USA and NCAA New Orleans Regional All-Tournament honors, and start all three of the Green Wave's games behind the plate at the CWS.
 A fixture on the Conference USA Commissioner's Honor Roll for the last four seasons, Scott Madden is now pursuing his master's degree in finance from Tulane.  | |
From there, however, Madden's career took a sudden turn. He appeared in 38 games in 2002 as a sophomore, but after struggling defensively, lost his job to Brian Bormaster, a 2004 draft pick of the Toronto Blue Jays. One year later, Madden would suffer a season-ending ankle injury just 10 games into the 2003 season against Southeastern Louisiana.
"The most disappointing thing about getting injured was that I felt I was just putting it all together," Madden said. "My sophomore year, I struck out a lot and my first month of that summer in Virginia (as a member of the Front Royal Cardinals of the Valley League) was miserable. I was striking out a bunch, and somewhere along the line, it just clicked. I was hitting low .200s and when it clicked, I wound up hitting over .300. Ever since then, I feel that when I get two strikes, I feel so much more comfortable than when I was in that situation before."
Madden worked hard in rehab throughout the remainder of the 2003 season and during the summer, and was tutored by former minor league catcher and current associate head coach Mark Kingston in defensive drills. As a redshirt junior in 2004, Madden played in 32 games, including eight starts at DH, but made the most of his playing time with a career-best five home runs in 46 at-bats.
"It took him a year to get healthy," Jones said. "It was really the second half of last season before you started seeing him turn his hips when he was hitting and drive the ball like he had when he first got here." While Madden graduated from Tulane with his bachelor's degree last May, he decided to return for his final season of eligibility in 2005 and has not only provided the Green Wave with a big bat in the lineup, but also a quiet type of leadership.
"I'm a lead by example guy," Madden said. "I'm not someone to grab somebody and say, `Look, do this or do that.' If people come to me, I'm very open to anything and everything and will help them in any way I can."
The most common question he gets is what it was like during Tulane's magical 2001 trip to the College World Series - a question Madden is not reluctant to answer.
"I just tell them that it was unbelievable, and I let them know that I kind of got spoiled," Madden said. "I got to go as a freshman, and not that I took it for granted, but we didn't perform as well as expected my sophomore year. Even though we made it to the Super Regional last year, we still fell one step short. A big driving factor for me is to get back to the College World Series. That motivates you to work harder."
That hard work has paid off as Madden has started 14 of the first 15 games of the 2005 season, and is hitting well over .400 while also showing power and coming through in the clutch. He has seen time at first base, as the designated hitter and behind the plate, but no matter where he has lined up, his offense has been rock steady.
"There have been times this year where I look back and go `Man, how did I pull off two hits today?' he said. I just try and stay as consistent as possible and keep the swing as close to my comfort level as I can. Whether there's a game that I go hitless or whenever I hit a home run, I've just got to stay consistent. It doesn't matter if there's a nasty pitcher on the mound that day or someone we crush, I just try and maintain a consistent swing and the rest will take care of itself."
In that manner, through the ups and downs of his Tulane career, Scott Madden has maintained not only a consistent swing, but a consistent work ethic and attitude which have made him successful no matter what the endeavor.
