Brewers hires two hitting coaches

The Milwaukee Brewers will go with multiple hitting coaches next season after hiring Ozzie Timmons and Connor Dawson to replace fired Andy Haines.

Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns announced Thursday that the NL Central champs had selected Timmons and Dawson as part of their “team of major league-level hitting coaches.” Stearns said the Brewers also plan to hire an assistant hitting coach to join that duo.

“What we are doing is really an acknowledgment that this has become a very big job, ” Stearns said.” Over the past three to five years, as information continues to proliferate in our game, we are asking every time more to our coaches in general and that’s true of our hitting coaches. Allowing Connor and Ozzie to divide up the hitting coach responsibilities and collectively lead our group, and then support each other with a yet-to-be-hired assistant, we think that’s the right structure for us now.

“I think we will see other teams in the industry follow similar structures in the not too distant future, so we believe this is the right way forward. ”

The Brewers announced Oct. 20 that they would not renew the contract for Haines, who had been Milwaukee’s hitting coach for three seasons.

Milwaukee scored a total of six runs in a loss – in four games in the NL Divisional Series to eventual World Series champion the Atlanta Braves – after ranking 12th of 30 major league teams in scoring, 20 in OPS and 27 in batting average during the regular season.

Stearns said he did not interview the two hitting coaches together, but was looking for individuals who were open-minded and willing to collaborate. Stearns believes he found two coaches whose divergent backgrounds will make them an ideal duo.

“Connor is coming from the new school,” Timmons said. “I’m a little old school. We can combine that, man, we can make the Brewers work. That’s the plan.”

Timmons, 51, was first base coach and assistant hitting coach for the Tampa Bay Rays from 2017-21. He also assisted the Rays players with base running and outfield instruction during that time. He played for four different MLB teams from 1995 to 2000.

Dawson, 28, had worked in the Seattle Mariners organization since 2019 and was their minor league hitting coordinator this season.

“I’m relatively new to professional baseball,” Dawson said. ” Having a guy like Ozzie, and his experience as a player, as a coach, is invaluable. His wisdom complemented by what I have to contribute, I think he makes a great couple and I think he can also make us good teammates in this endeavor. ”