Tim Hyers declines offer to return to Red Sox

Last week, the Red Sox had announced they are parting ways with first base coach Tom Goodwin, but otherwise were hoping to keep the rest of their coaching staff together. It does not appear that is going to be the case. On Monday, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reported Tim Hyers has declined an offer to return to the team next season to explore new opportunities. Speier mentions he could potentially go to the college ranks, though doesn’t rule out a major-league role as well. Steve Hewitt of the Boston Herald reports assistant hitting coach Peter Fatse will be promoted to replace Hyers.

Hyers first joined the Red Sox organization in the late aughts as an area scout before moving to the coaching side as the minor-league hitting coordinator. From there, he moved on to be the assistant hitting coach for the Dodgers before he was hired to be the hitting coach in Boston’s dugout, joining Alex Cora’s then-new staff back in the winter of 2017. Under his tutelage, the Red Sox have been one of the best offenses in baseball. Since the 2018 season when Hyers started in this role, Boston has led baseball in runs scored and slugging, rank third in on-base percentage and fourth in MLB in wRC+. Of course, it’s always hard to know how much production is due to coaches rather than just having talented hitters.

To that end, it is at least something of a positive that the team is apparently leaning towards an internal replacement. The continuity and familiarity should help for an offense that shouldn’t look too different in 2022. Fatse is a Massachusetts native who spent a few years in professional baseball before becoming the Twins minor-league hitting coordinator for the 2019 season. He joined the Red Sox coaching staff the following year as the assistant hitting coach.