That Braves coach down south is treating the NY Mets like Voldemort

It was a slow heel build up for Jeremy Hefner. How could he not? The former New York Mets pitching coach is now employed by the Atlanta Braves. He could build an orphanage, cure a disease, and help an old woman cross the street and he’d still be a Mets villain in 2026.

The Braves aren’t a team necessarily building a pitching staff with risky fliers. Their roster has stayed largely unchanged on the pitching side of things, hoping to instead get a healthy campaign out of many of their arms. He does have a lot of work ahead of him, including gaining favor with the fanbase which he has already.

Hefner had very general responses to questions from Braves reporters with one noteworthy phrasing of referring to the Mets as “that other team up north.”

“Mets” is a four letter word Jeremy Hefner isn’t going to say

They who shall not be named…Hefner’s former employer won’t play the Braves until June so this as bulletin board material of any kind is unlikely to carry over four months into the future. It’s not even all that insulting. It’s just a weird way to pay respect to the Braves and avoid saying the obvious.

Hefner is one of those coaches whose departure from the Mets seemed to come as a change of scenery scenario. He survived multiple managerial and front office changes. After the way the pitching collapsed late, they almost had to move on from him.

Hefner’s reputation with the Mets was positive. The Braves were quick to hire him and if not for landing with such a hated Mets rival, we probably wouldn’t pay much attention to anything he says or does.

Since joining the Mets coaching staff in 2020, Hefner has been recognized for his coaching abilities, but never one to actually yield the results of what we were promised. Jacob deGrom won both of his Cy Youngs before Hefner got here. David Peterson is the best young pitcher he helped develop at the major league level.

It’s not fair to judge Hefner completely on the development of pitchers as the Mets haven’t employed a whole lot of young homegrown ones. Can we really blame him for Ryan Helsley flaming out last year? Does the inconsistent health of Kodai Senga make us think of Hefner’s tenure any differently?

When the Mets and Braves finally do play in 2026, a big part of the storyline will be Hefner and Atlanta’s first base coach Antoan Richardson facing their old team.

Hefner’s censorship of the Mets feels more like a fun little way to become a true member of the Braves organization. Hopefully he didn’t pull a Luke Weaver show up to spring training with a Mets logo on his bag.