Red Sox targeting familiar face for hitting coach as Alex Cora's staff takes shape

The Red Sox new coaching staff is slowly starting to take on a more defined shape.

A baseball source indicated Friday that the team has identified Tim Hyers as its first choice to serve as hitting instructor, the role officially vacated Friday when Chili Davis was named to the Chicago Cubs coaching staff.

Davis had filled that role for the past three seasons, but with no promise that he would be retained under new manager Alex Cora, took the opportunity to look around. Davis first interviewed with the San Diego Padres before agreeing to the Cubs offer.

Hyers, 46, is no stranger to the Red Sox organization, having worked as an area scout in the organization from 2009-12 before being made minor league hitting coordinator from 2013-2015. During that time, he also served a short stint as interim major league hitting coach after hitting coach Greg Colbrunn suffered a cerebral hemorrhage.

In 2016, he joined manager Dave Roberts’ staff with the Los Angeles Dodgers and has spent the last two seasons as the team’s assistant hitting coach, working with Turner Ward, the team’s primary hitting coach.

Hyers had a brief career in the majors with San Diego, Detroit and Florida in the 1990s, appearing in 133 games and compiling a .217 batting average.

The Red Sox have also targeted New York Yankee third base coach Joe Espada as their top choice to serve as Cora’s bench coach, with New York Mets bullpen coach Rickey Bones under consideration as pitching coach.

Both Espada and Bones have clear connections to Cora, but there are no apparent ties with Hyers. Hyers played (Marlins, 1999) and worked (Tigers, 2002) for Dave Dombrowski, in addition to Hyers' ties to the Red Sox organization. With a first-year manager like Cora, it's not unusual for the organization to have input on at least some of the staff positions.

Here's a video of Hyers talking at length about his hitting philosophy: