Hoffman was a very pleasant surprise in 2023.
Kyle Ross-USA TODAY SportsLet’s travel back in time to the end of April 2023.
Bryce Harper continued his almost superhuman rehabilitation following offseason Tommy John surgery.
He attempted to return to the batter’s box about five months after undergoing surgery on Nov. 23, 2022. At this point in the process, in April, he was scheduled to begin live batting practice at Citizens Bank Park.
The Phillies brought in minor league pitchers to compete with him, rather than coaches or a pitching machine.
One of those pitchers ended up being arguably their most consistent reliever all season.Jeff Hoffman was a former first-round pick (9th overall) of the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2014 MLB Draft.
He was traded to the Colorado Rockies at the 2015 trade deadline as part of the deal which acquired Toronto All-Star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. . Hoffman debuted with the Rockies in 2016 and played five seasons in Colorado.
His tenure was a disaster as he posted a 6.40 ERA in 68 appearances. After two unsuccessful seasons in Cincinnati, Hoffman based his career on life support.
He signed a minor league contract with the Twins in February 2023, but triggered an opt-out clause and ultimately agreed to a minor league contract with the Phillies on March 31.
After facing Hoffman in this live BP, Harper noticed he was a different pitcher. His velocity had increased from 94 to an average of 97 mph, and his slider had more snap than in previous years.
The Phillies took notice when they added Hoffman to the MLB roster on May 4 after he opted out of his minor league contract again.2023 regular season stats: 54 G, 5-2, 2.41 ERA, 52.1 IP, .917 WHIP, 33.2 K%, 9.1 BB%, .158/.244/.257 line opposing batter2023 playoff stats: 8 G, 1-1, 2.57 ERA, 7 IP, 0.857 WHIP Good Hoffman quickly became one of Rob Thomson’s most trusted collaborators.
He appeared in 8 games in May and was only charged with 2 runs, 1 of which was unearned.
Hoffman struck out 14 of the 41 batters he faced, walking only five. After a speed bump in June (5.19 ERA in 9 G), Hoffman was completely busy until the end of the season, posting a 2.12 ERA and 0.79 WHIP in 37 games from July until at the end of the season.
His ability to handle a high-leverage job has been a godsend for the Phillies, who were without Jose Alvarado for much of May and late July due to injury and dealing with Seranthony Dominguez’s struggles. Hoffman’s new and improved fastball has allowed him to fine-tune his devastating slider with great success.
Opposing hitters are hitting just .074 on the slider with an SLG of .123 and a slugging percentage of 44.6%. He was able to throw the pitch low and far to righties and downfield and to lefties to generate swings and errors.
Hoffman’s .158 opponent batting average ranked third among all qualified relievers in baseball. His 0.92 WHIP was fourth.
In addition to pitching the next few innings, Hoffman was constantly called upon to put out fires set by other Phillies pitchers. With runners, he limited opponents to .148 AVG and .505 OPS. With runners in scoring position, hitters had a .131 AVG and .447 OPS against him.
Hoffman continued to play the firefighter role in the postseason in extremely high-leverage spots and continued to find success.
For example, in Game 1 of the NLDS against the Braves, Hoffman entered the fourth inning in a 1-0 game with two on and two out.
After Marcel Ozuna walked, Hoffman struck out Michael Harris II to end the scoring threat. Ultimately he struck out 9 of the 27 batters he faced in the postseason and allowed just one walk.
The badIt’s hard to find anything wrong with Hoffman’s season considering how low expectations were before the year and how much he exceeded them.
His two-run home run to set up Austin Riley in the eighth inning of Game 2 of the NLDS stands out as arguably his worst moment of the season, but ultimately the Phillies won the Series without losing another game.
It looked like his postseason workload might catch up with him when Game 7 of the NLCS came around, as he allowed the go-ahead run to Gabriel Moreno in the 4th after taking an 0-2 lead.
Hoffman finished the NLCS with a total of 6 innings in 5 appearances, as Craig Kimbrel’s total meltdown and Orion Kerkering’s meltdown forced Rob Thomson to try to push the other relievers further.
Thefuture The Phillies offered Hoffman a contract on Nov. 17 as he entered his third and final year of arbitration. It’s a safe bet that he will get a nice raise from his $1.3 million salary in 2023.
He will be back with the Phillies in 2024 regardless of the arbitration number, but it would be wise for the Phillies to sign a contract extension after the 2024 season as Hoffman he will be a free agent next winter at age 31.
The biggest question for Hoffman will be whether he can repeat his success in 2024. Relievers are naturally volatile, but in Hoffman’s case he will have to prove that 2023 wasn’t an outlier.
The Phillies saw this happen with one of their previous success stories in Andrew Bellatti. Bellatti played a very similar role to Hoffman in the 2022 bullpen, albeit with less dominance.
However, he completely collapsed in 2023, pitching to a 5.11 ERA in 27 MLB appearances and spending most of the season in Triple A.
However, the advanced numbers bear out the eye test with Hoffman, as he ranked in the top 3% of the league in expected batting average (.188) and K%, while he ranked in the top 1% in expected slugging (.274 ). , weighted on-base average (0.226) and expected ERA (2.52).
Some regression is to be expected, but Hoffman should still be an important cog in the Phillies’ 2024 bullpen.
