Brewers News: Crew Announces Hiring Of Co-Hitting Coaches

The search for the next hitting coach for the Milwaukee Brewers is over.

After letting former hitting coach Andy Haines go following the conclusion of the 2021 season, the Brewers elected to sign co-hitting coaches. 51-year-old Ozzie Timmons and 28-year-old Connor Dawson will be managing the duties together. An assistant hitting coach will also be hired in the future.

The decision to utilize two different minds under the singular title of hitting coach is a rising trend. A big reason for this is due to the amount of information that is available and the demand it places on coaches. In the upcoming years, many organizations will likely be switching to this model.

In the Brewers’ case, they elected to sign two coaches whose strengths are opposite from one another. Timmons is viewed more so as the old school coach whereas Dawson utilizes a more modern approach. The goal is to have these two coaches work together like yin and yang in order to get the Brewers offense thriving again.

Let’s take a look at each of these new Brewers hitting coaches and what they will bring to the table.  

Ozzie Timmons 

Timmons is a former outfielder who played for 16 seasons. Upon retiring as a player, he took up coaching. He was the Rays’ hitting coach at multiple minor league levels from 2007 to 2017. From the end of 2017 to 2021 he was the Rays first base and assistant hitting coach.

A big strength of Timmons is his ability to connect with players. His experience as a former player plays a big role in this. Another key trait is his ability to let players have fun while remaining focused on their day to day tasks and performance. Manager Craig Counsell operates like this as well and often is a big reason why players want to stay or come to Milwaukee.

A big thing Timmons is known for his celebratory 10 push ups per run scored. In 2021 the Rays were second in the league in runs scored per game at 5.29, which means he did a lot of push ups! Unfortunately, Timmons has already announced that the push up celebration will not transfer over to his new gig with the Brewers. Rather a new celebration will be created.

Connor Dawson

Dawson, despite never playing professional baseball, is viewed as a rising star in the industry. Last season he was the Seattle Mariners’ minor league hitting coordinator. Prior to that, in 2020, he was the hitting strategist at the Mariners alternative training site, hitting coach at the Rookie Level in 2019, and before all that a hitting coach at a community college in Iowa.

With being the new school guy, Dawson is well known for utilizing analytics and digging into the technical aspects of hitting. Multiple players have praised his ability to implement different training techniques into their routines.

From a personality standpoint, Dawson comes across as a person who is very passionate and dedicates a lot of time to continuing to learn. With being so young, multiple sources have commented on his ability to keep and open mind while continuing to grow.

Timmons and Dawson Together

A big aspect that will impact this pair’s ability to have success in Milwaukee or not is communication and listening. Between effectively communicating both with one another and with the players, both coaches have already spoken greatly on this matter.

In theory, this old school and new school combination sounds like a great plan. Only time will tell if these two can work well together or not.