The Atlanta Braves offense has often been defined as a free-swinging bunch. Utility man Mauricio Dubon said as much in his postgame interview on Friday evening, and the numbers back that up. Only the Rockies have a higher swing rate in baseball, as the Braves entered Monday with a 50.1% swing rate. The bigger problem is that Atlanta also has the second highest chase rate (36.1%) in baseball.
Sometimes players like Drake Baldwin can find success on pitches outside the zone, but the result on those pitches is often poor for Braves hitters. This aggressive philosophy is fine when the team is hitting home runs, but as we saw on Monday afternoon against Jesus Luzardo, the other side is a lot of ugly at-bats.
This rollercoaster nature has brought hitting coach Tim Hyers under fire for the team's overall offensive philosophy. How does a team that sees the second fewest amount of pitches in the zone (40.3%) rank as the second highest swing rate ball club?
After the Final Out: @wileyballard_ caught up with Mauricio Dubón pic.twitter.com/znjspKOi56
— BravesVision (@BravesVisionTV) September 5, 2026
Braves' failing offensive philosophy was on full display Monday, making us question why Tim Hyers is still around
When the Braves brought Hyers aboard in 2024, the hope was that Atlanta would find alternative methods of scoring runs outside of the home run ball. Fast forward to 2026, and the Braves are still very much home run dependent. Atlanta has multiple dangerous bats in its lineup, but the problem is they rarely work the count to set themselves up for advantageous situations.
Good pitchers have an easy out against Atlanta; make competitive pitches around the zone, but nothing over the heart where damage can be done. More often than not, Braves' hitters will expand, and the result is a ton of weak contact or straight-up whiffs.
Jesus Luzardo is an excellent pitcher, and he knew exactly how to exploit Atlanta's lineup. On Monday afternoon, Luzardo had a strike percentage of 72% despite having an in-zone rate of 44 percent. Luzardo made Atlanta expand on multiple pitches, keeping the Braves off balance all day. The Phillies lefty threw 41 sweepers on Monday afternoon and elicited a 55% chase rate. That means Luzardo's sweeper was a strike 68% of the time despite being in the zone 29% of the time.
It wasn't just spin the Braves struggled with; Luzardo's fastball was giving them fits too. Luzardo threw 36 four-seam fastballs on Monday for a 72% strike rate. This number comes despite Luzardo throwing his four-seam fastball in the zone 50% of the time. Producing a 39% chase rate on a four-seam fastball is downright inexcusable for Atlanta's offense.
It is days like Monday, in a pivotal divisional matchup, that Atlanta's offensive approach is proven to be extremely poor. Truthfully, it's why the offense has looked so abysmal in postseason play, too. An offensive gameplan/approach seems to be nonexistent. No one expects the 2023 Braves to burst back on the scene, but three consecutive seasons of baffling at-bats has to lead to some sort of change. Hyers can't go out and take pitches for the players, but if his message isn't getting through to them, maybe it's time to search for someone else to deliver a new message.
Add us as a preferred source on Google