Tim Hyers spent parts of four seasons in the majors in the
1990s and is currently the Red Sox’ hitting coach.
Timothy James Hyers was born in Atlanta on October 3, 1971.
He graduated from Newton County High School in Covington, Georgia, where he
lettered in baseball and basketball, in 1990. He was drafted by Toronto in the
second round of the June amateur draft, with a pick the Blue Jays got as
compensation for Lloyd Moseby signing with Detroit; he signed a contract on
June 4 and was assigned to Medicine Hat in the Rookie class Pioneer League. On
July 5 he filled out a questionnaire, which included a few of the facts from
this paragraph, as well as his height and weight—6-1, 180—and the fact that he
had played American Legion ball in Conyers, Georgia. He played in 61 games with
Medicine Hat, all at first base, and hit .219/.306/.295 in 224 at-bats.
In 1991 Tim moved up to the Class A Myrtle Beach Hurricanes,
where he was the everyday first baseman, but hit just .204/.256/.246 in 398
at-bats. Still, he was promoted a half-step to the Dunedin Blue Jays of the
Florida State League, a higher Class A league, for 1992. Here he hit .246/.308/.362
in 124 games, again the regular first baseman.
Despite his offensive numbers so far, Tim was apparently
still seen as a prospect by Toronto, and in 1993 they bumped him up to
Knoxville of the Class AA Southern League; here he had his best pro season and
got his first Sporting News mention
on August 9: “The Knoxville Blue Jays are loaded with potential
major-leaguers—shortstop Alex Gonzalez, 20; catcher Carlos Delgado, 21; and
first baseman Tim Hyers, 21.” In 140 games, all at first base, he hit .306/.375/.390
with 26 doubles, three triples and three home runs, 53 walks, and 12 stolen
bases in 15 attempts.
Tim’s season wasn’t enough to get him protected on the Blue
Jays 40-man off-season roster, but it was enough to attract the attention of
other teams, and in December he was selected by San Diego in the Rule V draft. On
April 3, 1994, the Las Vegas
Review-Journal reported:
First baseman Tim Hyers was taken from the Toronto organization in the Rule V draft last December and has to be kept on the big-league roster all season or be offered back to the Blue Jays.
Padres manager Jim Riggleman said the club has no intention of offering Hyers back.
“Everybody talks about him being a Mark Grace-type player, but that’s a pretty huge comparison to make,” Riggleman said. “But he looks like him, he wears No. 17 like him, he’s a left-handed hitting first baseman who’s a good defensive first baseman. They’re similar in size.”
Tim spent April on the bench behind Dave Staton,
pinch-hitting and occasionally coming into a game at first or in right field. Staton
got off to a poor start, though, and in May Tim became the starting first
baseman against right-handed pitchers. On June 4 he got a feature article from
the Associated Press:
Hyers shrugs off comparisons
SAN DIEGO—From the first time he stepped into a batting cage with the San Diego Padres, rookie Tim Hyers has drawn comparisons with another left-handed first baseman who wears No. 17 and shuns batting gloves.
“He’s a Mark Grace clone,” said fellow lefthander Tony Gwynn.
General manager Randy Smith said scouting reports raised some resemblances between Grace, the Chicago Cubs’ All-Star first baseman, and Hyers, whom the Padres plucked from the Toronto Blue Jays’ organization for $50,000 in the Rule V draft last December.
“I know he doesn’t like them, but there are a lot of similarities there,” Smith said. “Similar throw, similar look, similar type player. Good defensive first baseman, guy with a sweet line-drive stroke. I think it’s a compliment to Tim.”
That’s pretty heady stuff for a 22-year-old who went straight from Class AA to the majors.
“I feel honored that they even say my name in the same sentence,” Hyers said. “I’m not going out there trying to copy him, like not wearing batting gloves or whatever he does. I’m just out to play. If I look like him or my reactions are the same, it’s just something that happened, it’s not something that I planned.
“A lot of people said that, especially in spring training. I told him, ‘I’m not trying to copy you or anything like that,’ He goes, ‘I know, there’s nothing you can do about it.’”
Except to prove himself, which the Padres feel Hyers is doing.
Although power hitter Dave Staton was penciled in to replace Fred McGriff at first base, Smith said the Padres couldn’t pass over Hyers when the Blue Jays didn’t protect him on their 40-man roster.
“In our situation, I think we have to come up with as many good players as we can get, irregardless of position,” said Smith, who’s trying to rebuild a club ravaged by last year’s salary purge.
Staton played himself out of the lineup and eventually was sent down to Class AAA Las Vegas.
On May 10, manager Jim Riggleman committed to Hyers as the starting first baseman against right-handers.
Hyers has started 14 of the last 22 games, missing the last six to rest his strained right shoulder, an injury he sustained in late April. He’s expected to return during a road trip that starts Friday.
He hit safely in nine of his last 12 games, and is batting .273, with four RBIs.
“He’s always had a good stroke since the first day he was here,” said Gwynn, a four-time NL batting champion. “The more you’re around him the more you come away impressed from the way he sees things and the way he talks about things, because he knows what he has to do in order to be successful.”
Gwynn recalled a day early in spring training when he, Hyers, Derek Bell and Phil Plantier were trying to spray the ball around the field.
“We’re talking about hitting the ball the other way and Hyers says, ‘Anybody can hit a ball to left field. Anybody can go up there and just block it off and hit it to left field. But it’s really hard to go up there and pull the ball.’ In his way of hitting and my way of hitting, that’s the correct way to do it. He’s sharp.”
As he continues to learn to handle big-league pitching, Hyers said he is concerned with just putting the ball in play.
And, he adds, “I’ve learned you can make a lot of money and stay in the big leagues a long time by having that constant stroke.”
Tim started a majority of the games between June 3 and 19,
but on June 24 he was placed on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to June
22, after undergoing an MRI on his shoulder. The 15 days stretched out a bit
longer, then on July 26 he began a rehab assignment with the AAA Las Vegas
Stars of the Pacific Coast League. On July 28 the Las Vegas Review-Journal ran an article by Kevin Iole about Hyers
and Staton, who were now together, temporarily, in the Stars’ lineup. It went,
in part:
…The past few weeks weren’t easy for Hyers, either, but for a dramatically different reason. The 22-year-old was a rule V draftee out of the Toronto organization, but injured his shoulder early in the season diving for a ball in batting practice.
He continued to play with the injury and took over the Padres’ starting job at first when Staton was demoted, but eventually had to give in and landed on the disabled list.
That made things uncomfortable for Hyers, who said he was thrilled simply to get back into action.
“If I’m anywhere around 70, 75 percent, I’m going to be out there playing,” Hyers said. “I didn’t play a healthy game this year, but it got to the point where I wasn’t helping myself or the team and I had to (go on the disabled list). I’m just thrilled to get back.”
Hyers, who is a terrific defensive first baseman, will play mostly outfield for the two weeks he is with the Stars on his rehabilitation assignment, Tuesday’s game against Vancouver—in which he made a great diving catch—was his first as a professional in the outfield [not true, though it may have been his first start there].
Position, though, does not matter to Hyers.
“You tell me where and I’ll play,” said Hyers, who hit .306 for Double A Knoxville last year. “To go from Double-A to the big leagues was a thrill. I’m anxious to get back and get out there and start playing again. It’s a great opportunity for me and I want to be able to take advantage of it.”
Tim played his last game for Las Vegas on August 10 (he hit
.255/.314/.340 in 47 at-bats) and was immediately recalled by the Padres. The
next afternoon in Houston he hit a pinch-hit single and was thrown out trying
to stretch it into a double, then stayed in the game at first base. He was then
put back on the disabled list, where he remained for the rest of the season.
His San Diego stats were .254/.307/.280 in 118 at-bats; the miniscule slugging
percentage is explained by the fact that 27 of his 30 hits were singles and the
other three were doubles. On November 29 he underwent arthroscopic surgery on
his shoulder.
Tim likely would have begun 1995 back in Las Vegas, except
that the Padres had to keep him in San Diego for a while. From the April 20 Las Vegas Review-Journal:
One player who definitely will start the season in San Diego is first baseman Tim Hyers. Hyers was a Rule V draftee from Toronto last year and had to remain with the Padres all season or be offered back to the Blue Jays.
There was much speculation in the winter that the Padres would send Hyers to Triple-A to develop. But because of a technicality, Hyers must begin in the majors.
He spent only 83 days on the active roster last year—the rest of the time, he was on the disabled list—and must spend a minimum of 90 days before the Padres can option him down.
That likely means Hyers will start as the backup to Eddie Williams at first…
Tim made five pinch-hitting appearances, going 0-for-5, made
a late-inning defensive appearance at first base on May 2, then on May 4 was
sent down to Las Vegas. He played 82 games for the Stars, 54 at first and 23 in
the outfield; I don’t know if there were injury problems. He hit .290/.351/.355
with 12 doubles, one triple and one homer in 259 at-bats. In November he was
traded to Detroit; former Padre GM Randy Smith had just become the Tigers’ GM
and this was his first trade.
Tim began 1996 on the AAA Toledo Mud Hens’ roster but was
called up to Detroit two weeks into the major league season. In three weeks he
was used mostly as a pinch-hitter and defensive sub, hitting .077 in 26
at-bats; then on May 7 he was sent back to Toledo. He played 117 games for the
Mud Hens, 88 at first and 28 in the outfield, and hit .259/.322/.373 with 17
doubles, six triples and seven home runs in 437 at-bats.
Tim was not protected on the 40-man roster over the
off-season, but nobody drafted him. He was invited to spring training 1997 by
the Tigers, then was returned to Toledo. He spent the whole season there and had
his best power year, hitting .274/.337/.425 with 22 doubles, three triples and
12 homers in 424 at-bats in 121 games. At the end of the season he automatically became a
free agent because he was not on a major league roster and had been originally signed at least seven years previously.
In January 1998 Tim was signed by the Arizona Diamondbacks.
They released him on April 22, re-signed him on April 30, and released him
again on May 19, by which point he had played in 19 games for the Diamondbacks' AAA team, the Tucson Sidewinders, for whom he hit .222. On May 22 the Florida
Marlins signed him and sent him to their AAA team, the Charlotte Knights of the
International League. For Charlotte he hit .280/.339/.437 with 22 doubles, two
triples and seven home runs in 300 at-bats in 85 games.
In spring training 1999 Tim won a spot on the Florida roster.
He appeared in 15 games in the first few weeks of the season, mostly coming off
the bench, then on April 27 was sent down to the Calgary Cannons of the Pacific
Coast League, who were now the Marlins’ AAA affiliate. On May 30 he was called
back up to Florida. On June 6, playing left field in his sixth major league start
of the season, he went 4-for-5 in Tampa Bay and hit the first two home runs of
his major league career, raising his season batting average from .222 to .313
and his slugging percentage from .259 to .531. Two days later, at home against
Baltimore, he went 3-for-4 with two doubles and the first triple of his major
league career.
It was all downhill from there, though. There would be no
more triples or home runs, and Tim went 5-for-45 the rest of the way for the
Marlins. His last game for them was on August 5, and then he was sent back down
to Calgary. He hit .222/.333/.370 in 81 at-bats for Florida and .268/.320/.402
in 179 at-bats for the Cannons. After the season he became a free agent again,
but this time no one would sign him and his playing career was over. Meanwhile,
on October 16, he served as a groomsman at his 1999 Marlin teammate Kevin
Millar’s wedding in Los Angeles.
On November 29, 2001, it was announced that Tim had been
hired by the Detroit Tigers as a coach for the Class A Oneonta Tigers of the
NY-Penn League for 2002, though some sources say that he actually coached that
season for their Midwest League affiliate, the West Michigan Whitecaps. I’m not
sure what he was doing between then and 2009, when he became the Georgia scout
for the Red Sox. In December 2012 the Red Sox named him hitting coach of the
Greenville Drive of the Class A South Atlantic League, but six days later they
promoted him to minor league hitting coordinator. After three years at that job
he was lured away by a chance to be the assistant hitting coach for the Los
Angeles Dodgers; in 2017 he added the title of director of minor league
hitting. Then in 2018 the Red Sox hired him back as their hitting coach, a job
he still holds.
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