Braves Offense Facing Same Major Issue Under New Hitting Coach

It doesn't take a deep statistical dive to see why the Atlanta Braves are the only team averaging fewer than three runs per game this season.

After nine contests, the Braves are among the bottom five teams in batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. They aren't consistently getting on base or making hard contact. Additionally, when the Braves hitters have made contact, it hasn't been with a lot of power.

But none of that should be Atlanta's biggest concern offensively. That would be the team's continued struggles with runners in scoring position.

The Braves departed with long-time hitting coach Kevin Seitzer during last offseason in large part because of the team's issues with runners on base in 2024. Atlanta was 20th with a .247 batting average with runners in scoring position last year after being 10th in the category during 2023.

Under new hitting coach Tim Hyers, though, hitting with runners in scoring position is still a major problem in Atlanta. In fact, it's worse through nine games.

The Braves will enter this week's series versus the Philadelphia Phillies with a .173 batting average with runners in scoring position. That's ranked 27th in the MLB.

Furthermore, the Braves have a .471 OPS with runners in scoring position, which is 28th in the league.

The Braves were able to mostly stay afloat offensively last season because they continued to hit a lot of home runs. Atlanta was fourth in the MLB with 213 homers in 2024.

To being this season, the Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays are the only teams with fewer home runs than the Braves. With the lack of bombs to start 2025, the Braves have needed to find other ways to score.

The team has failed miserably at that. In the first nine games, the Braves have registered more than one hit with runners in scoring position just twice.

The result is Atlanta being ranked dead last in runs scored.

The Braves had more than one hit with runners in scoring position during the series finale versus the Los Angeles Dodgers and then in the home opener against the Miami Marlins. The Braves scored 15 runs in those two games, going 12-for-32 (.375) with runners in scoring position. Atlanta also had two home runs in the home opener.

The Braves, though, followed up those two games with an 0-for-9 performance with runners in scoring position during a shutout loss Saturday.

In his first interview with The Athletic's David O'Brien this past offseason, Hyers used all the right buzz words. Hyers talked about the Braves hitters using "the whole field" and being a "little more fluid" in terms of scoring runners in multiple ways -- not just with home runs.

But early in 2025, that's all just been coach speak. Not only are the Braves failing to get hits with runners on base, they aren't moving runners along either. The Braves are the only team in the league without a sacrifice hit or sacrifice fly.

It seems like the Braves, like last year, are still trying to hit home runs in a lot of their at-bats. At least last season, they hit those homers.

Hitting bombs is going to be important for the Braves climbing out of their offensive slump. But they aren't going to be a threat to the Dodgers, Phillies or anyone else if Hyers can't accomplish what he was hired to do -- get the Braves hitting with runners on base.