The Braves hired Tim Hyers as their major league hitting coach, the team announced Thursday. The 53-year-old Hyers, an Atlanta native, spent the past three seasons in the same capacity with the Rangers, where he won a World Series title in 2023. He also won a World Series as part of the Red Sox staff.
In all, Hyers spent the previous nine seasons on a major league coaching staff. He was the assistant hitting coach for the Dodgers from 2016-17, the hitting coach for the Red Sox from 2018-21 and joined the Rangers in 2022.
Hyers was hired to replace Kevin Seitzer, who was one of three members of the coaching staff fired earlier this month. Assistant hitting coach Bobby Magallanes and catching coach Sal Fasano also were let go. The Braves are expected to hire an assistant hitting coach, but will not replace the catching coach.
Seitzer had been the Braves’ hitting coach since 2015 – a full 10 seasons. He was the longest-tenured hitting coach in MLB, and was the Braves’ hitting coach even before Brian Snitker took over as the interim manager.
Hyers has coached 12 Silver Slugger award winners throughout his career, while Texas won the inaugural Team Silver Slugger in the American League in 2023. During his three-season tenure with Texas, the Rangers compiled the third-most runs (2,271) and home runs (607) in the AL, and hit .247/.315/.410 overall. Over his four-season stint with the Red Sox, they led all of baseball in runs (2,898), total bases (8,632), extra-base hits (1,989), batting average (.266), slugging percentage (.455) and OPS (.790).
Hyers was selected by the Blue Jays in the second round of the 1990 First-Year Player Draft out of Newton High School. He played parts of four seasons in the majors. Hyers, who batted and threw left-handed during his playing career, appeared in 133 career games with the Padres, Tigers and Marlins.
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