ATLANTA — It’s 40 miles to Truist Park from Tim Hyers’ home east of Atlanta in Loganville, Ga. But other than perhaps needing to find a place to live closer to the ballpark to avoid Atlanta’s notorious traffic, there isn’t anything about his new job that doesn’t excite Hyers, named the Atlanta Braves’ new hitting coach Thursday.
It’s the team the 53-year-old pulled for while growing up just outside Atlanta in Covington, and a team he’s admired from afar while he worked as Texas Rangers hitting coach for the past three seasons and while serving in a similar role with the Boston Red Sox during the 2018-2021 seasons.
Hyers was still under contract with the Texas Rangers, who won the 2023 World Series. But he couldn’t resist the lure of coming home, where he and his wife, Kristin, raised three kids and recently became grandparents to twin girls, to join a franchise that’s played in the past seven postseasons and certainly has the talent to continue that streak.
“Tough decisions, tough times,” Hyers said of leaving his Rangers job. “I’m probably not fond of the business side of it, but I’m surely glad to be home. And, you know, my family — wow. They probably chased me around the country for 30 years, so it’ll be nice to come home.”
Hyers replaces…
