Jeremy Hefner spoke to the media for the first time as the Braves’ pitching coach – and refused to name the Mets, where he spent two years as a player and six years coaching.
“Yeah, a lot of respect for this organization,” Hefner said when asked about what it was like to be with the Braves after leaving the Mets. “Grew up watching the Braves on TBS, watching [John] Smoltz, [Greg] Maddux, and [Tom] Glavine — all those guys do their thing.
“And then obviously been with that other team up north for a number of years, both as a player and as a coach. A lot of admiration and respect for this group. And just super grateful to be here and looking forward to continuing to work with these guys.”
Hefner was one of several coaches let go by the Mets after a highly disappointing 2025 season, where they had a league-best 45-24 record as of June 12, before collapsing and missing the playoffs.
He is not the only Mets coach to hint at bad blood with the organization; hitting coach Eric Chavez has also been very vocal about how he was given his walking papers by Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns.
Hefner was let go by the Mets in favor of new pitching coach Justin Willard, who was previously the director of pitching for the Boston Red Sox.
The Mets also unceremoniously parted ways with first base coach Antoan Richardson, who was integral in helping Juan Soto become a legitimate stolen base threat for the first time in his career.
For Hefner, he will have his work cut out for him in Atlanta.
The Braves are already down one of their top starters, Spencer Schwellenbach, who was immediately put on the 60-day IL after experiencing forearm tightness to begin spring training.
The ominous sign could point to the Braves needing some fill-in starting pitching help, as Bryce Elder may be forced to take on the fifth starter role.
Elder pitched to a 5.30 ERA last season and a 6.52 ERA the year prior.