The Atlanta Braves’ offense has not exactly gotten rave reviews in 2025. After putting up a historic 2023 season and being on track to be one of the great offenses in baseball lore, the Braves’ lineup has looked mediocre at best lately and ranks just 15th by fWAR (12.2) in all of baseball and that is only because Ronald Acuña Jr. has been on a warpath since he returned from the IL. For many Braves fans, new hitting coach Tim Hyers deserves a share of the blame for the drop-off.

While the actual impact of assistant coaches is extremely debatable, it is pretty hard to ignore that Atlanta’s offense has gotten strictly worse under Hyers and that it is looking more and like former hitting coach Kevin Seitzer was not the problem.

However, an unlikely voice has come to Hyers defense.

Not only has manager Brian Snitker been singing Hyers’ praises publicly, but Acuña Jr. gave his unqualified support for Hyers as well and credited him with his improvements since coming back from his knee injury.

Ronald Acuña Jr. may be a fan, but the bigger pictures should makes Braves put Tim Hyers under a microscope
Acuña Jr. wasn’t even asked about Hyers when he made his comments.

He was just doing normal post-game media availability when he made sure to give Hyers a shoutout before he left.

There is no denying that Acuña Jr. has been particularly patient at the plate since his return and he wanted to make sure that that was because of the work with Braves hitting coaches including Hyers he had been doing while he was out.

The problem is that baseball is a results oriented business as Hyers’ predecessor Seitzer found out the hard way after last season. Acuña Jr. may be a fan of Hyers’ work with him, but it sure doesn’t seem like the Braves’ lineup as a whole is thriving under Hyers and a few select bats have actually gotten worse.

Are these shortcomings actually Hyers’ fault? Honestly, probably not.

However, it can be true that the Braves’ hitters need to have accountability for their own issues and also true that Hyers’ message and teachings isn’t getting through to enough of Atlanta’s roster.

Unless the Braves’ bats show more in the second half, the Braves may need to go back to the drawing board with their coaching staff especially with the expected retirement of Snitker.