Incoming Atlanta Braves Hitting coach Tim Hyers outlined what he brings for the 2025 season.

Hyers has three fundamental principles that he will emphasize every day. As a simple guy, he keeps the principles simple: game planning, swing decisions and movements in the batter’s box.

For the first principle he listed, the action plan is to make the most of the data at their disposal.

“We have so much information these days. I like information”, Hyers said. “But I think the art of coaching these days is channeling that information, so we have this one idea.”

Here they will take the key information and get to work. This keeps it simple because, as Hyer says, you can only think about one thing at a time and hit a pitch at 97 miles per hour.

Hyers didn’t go into detail on that part of the game plan. But based on what he said, we can dig a little deeper. They’re going to do their research on the type of pitches the starters and bullpen throw and where they tend to place those pitches. Going even further, this decision depends on whether that hitter is left-handed or right-handed and where in the zone he tends to cover best.

The goal here is to lower chase rates and help hitters better sit on pitchers they can play best.

“You’re only as good as the strikes you throw,” he said.

In 2024, Braves hitters have struck out 1,461 times over 6,075 plate appearances for a strikeout rate of 24.04%. They had seventh most strikeouts in MLB and has eliminated the most of any team that has made the playoffs.

Meanwhile, the two World Series teams, the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees, are 19th and 20th in the league in strikeouts, respectively. The league finalists also showed exceptional discipline. The San Diego Padres had the fewest strikeouts in the league this year and the Cleveland Guardians had the fourth fewest.

There is a trend here that teams that are more disciplined and put the ball in play have had deeper playoff runs. It seems obvious, but in an era where the long ball matters more than ever, it couldn’t hurt to remember it.

It’s all about mechanics. Hyers addressed the Braves’ injury situation from a mechanics perspective.

With key hitters out for much of the year, hitters were trying to overcompensate, which can cause them to compromise their mechanics. Hyers wants to get everyone back in tune with his mechanics and make it easier to approach the plate.

“We can clean up some of these patterns and get them back into their groove,” he said. “And not trying to do too much – those thoughts of ‘I need to get a hit’ or I need to hit a home run here.’ I think it spoils the physique.

By adhering to these principles, Hyers believes the Braves will be more prepared, disciplined and fluid. According to Hyers, being fluid is especially important because a good team needs to score points in multiple ways.

“There are days where we can hit the ball, and obviously it can hit the ball really hard,” he said. “But there are also days when you have to score points in different ways.”

Hyers clearly has a game plan ready to go and spring training is only about four months away. In time, he’ll have a chance to start working with everyone and instill those principles in those hitters and put them into practice.

Hyers was announced as the Braves’ next hitting coach on Thursday. He comes from the Texas Rangers, where he was coach of the 2023 World Series-winning team.