Jeff Hoffman’s rise to trusted Phillies reliever is the culmination of a life-changing year (2025)

Jeff Hoffman threw 14 pitches against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp and only five of them were strikes. It was April 30. He got one out, and his ERA after a month at Triple-A Lehigh Valley was 7.00. He was on his second minor-league contract this year. He had signed with the Phillies because they were the first team to call in late March and they were willing to offer an opt-out earlier than everyone else: May 1.

The Phillies were intrigued by Hoffman’s uptick in velocity and different — but untamed — slider. They did not have an immediate need in the bullpen, and they offered Hoffman’s camp no clear indication about whether they’d add him to their big-league roster. That was because the Phillies weren’t sure what to do.

“I mean,” Hoffman said, “I didn’t really pitch that well in Triple A.”

Hoffman consulted with his wife, then his agent, Andrew Nacario at CAA. They went for it. On May 1, Hoffman triggered the opt-out clause. That opened a 48-hour window for the Phillies to promote him to the majors. If they didn’t, Hoffman could sign elsewhere. His camp thought maybethere was another big-league job for him. “We heard some rumblings,” Hoffman said. But, more than anything, Hoffman decided this was the moment to make a significant life decision.

He had a contract offer from the Nippon-Ham Fighters in Japan. “It was a money decision,” Hoffman said. “I wasn’t saying I’m not good enough to play here, but I was like, ‘I need the money for my family.'” His wife and four children couldn’t accompany him to Japan. It would have been too much. But it was a good deal. A little over $1 million for four months.

Hoffman’s agent relayed this to the Phillies, who were still debating what to do with Hoffman. It wasn’t a bluff.

“I had the papers in hand,” Hoffman said. “And I was like, ‘Let’s go.’”

The Phillies made a bet. They purchased Hoffman’s $1.3 million contract and guaranteed the prorated amount, about $1.08 million, for the remainder of 2023.

“I wouldn’t say it was an easy decision, but I think we saw major-league stuff there,” Phillies general manager Sam Fuld said. “We felt good about the decision.”

Earlier this week, Hoffman grabbed his phone from his locker at Citizens Bank Park. He’s one of the guys now. Phillies manager Rob Thomson trusts him in stressful moments. Come October, the Phillies are probably going to ask Hoffman to record important outs in a postseason game. It’s a remarkable ascent.

“I have pictures of my apartment,” Hoffman said. “It’s pretty crazy. I still have them. I’ll show you.”

He scrolled through his photos.

“Did I save them?” he said. “I had to have saved them.”

There they are. A modern, stylish apartment in Hokkaido. “Like, a sick high-rise,” Hoffman said. This is where he could have lived. He was at peace with it. Then, the Phillies offered him another life.

“It’s a lot,” Hoffman said. “It seems like … I mean … I don’t know. In life, everything doesn’t always happen that way.”

Teams make hundreds of decisions once the season begins and, in most instances, they are inconsequential. There are countless pitchers like Hoffman who settled for minor-league deals with the hopes of impressing someone. Relievers are difficult to predict year-to-year. There are always unexpected contributors; the best clubs are the ones that hoard the traits they think lead to future success.

The Phillies were not certain about Hoffman.

“Almost rarely is it a slam-dunk decision,” Fuld said. “We’ve gone through similar processes. Sometimes decided not to add a player to the major-league roster. But in this instance, we felt pretty good about it. He’s exceeded expectations. I mean, none of us thought we’d be looking at somebody with a 34 percent K rate at the big-league level.

“He’s helped us in a huge way.”

It’s not just the numbers — a 2.30 ERA, a career-high strikeout rate and a career-low walk rate — but also that Hoffman has passed every objective and subjective test. He ranks above the 90th percentile in fastball velocity, chase rate, whiff rate, expected batting average, and hard-hit rate. He’s gained 3 mph on his average fastball velocity from a season ago. He generates ugly swings. He impressed Bryce Harper during a late April batting practice session, and Hoffman still credits that for tipping the scales in his favor when the Phillies had to make a call on his future.

It would have been easy — based on Hoffman missing two months of the 2022 season and his inconsistent command in the minors this season — to let him go.

“I think it’s a good example of taking a collaborative approach and integrating multiple departments to make these kinds of decisions,” Fuld said. “We got a couple of good reports on him in spring training from Dan Wright, one of our pro scouts. We coupled that with a more objective look at what we were seeing from spring training data and the track record. It was a good collaborative approach.”

In Hoffman’s mind, this was just someone finally seeing what he had been trying to tell everyone.

Hoffman ended the 2022 season on the injured list with a bone bruise on his right elbow. But it was just a deep bruise — nothing more. He had his ulnar collateral ligament reconstructed as a junior at East Carolina University and still went ninth overall to Toronto in the 2014 MLB amateur draft. He was once a huge prospect.

But after two seasons with the Reds, he was unemployed in mid-January this year when he decided to hold a workout near his home in Lake Mary, Fla., a little north of Orlando. He told Nacario, his agent, to invite 29 teams. (The Rockies, Hoffman’s team for six years while his career languished, were excluded.) The night before the workout, someone from Hoffman’s agency called. He was sick. He couldn’t come. Hoffman was on his own.

“So,” Hoffman said, “I was like, ‘Well, what do I tell these guys?’ Like, there’s going to be a bunch of people grilling me. He’s like, ‘Just be honest with them. We’re not hiding anything. We’re just out here trying to prove that we’re healthy and that’s it.’ So that’s what I did.”

About 15 scouts attended the workout. A Rapsodo device recorded Hoffman’s pitch velocity and movement. He wanted to prove more than health. He felt his stuff was trending upward even though he had just turned 30. His fastball touched 98 mph in January. But what impressed two scouts who attended that day was how Hoffman handled a barrage of questions. He was honest and intelligent.

Hoffman explained to them why he was confident. “We really attacked how strong I was in the offseason,” Hoffman said. “We thought that was maybe something we hadn’t addressed yet.” He doubled his leg exercises in the winter. He worked with a trainer named Jeff Higuera and Melissa Brown, a physical therapist, every morning. The added lower-body strength led to velocity gains. And, with that, came an upgraded slider.

“The sharpness of the breaking ball, that all comes with added velocity too,” Hoffman said. “When you add velocity, you’re spinning it better. When you spin it better, the seams can grab better.”

But there were no big-league offers, even after the showcase. He was out of minor-league options and had missed the final two months of last season. Teams weren’t willing to guarantee him money. Hoffman waited.

“It was a scary time late in the offseason,” Hoffman said. “Phones aren’t ringing at all. Everybody’s got their roster going to camp. I’m basically waiting for an injury. When it never happens, it’s like, all right, I’m off the big-league health insurance. My family doesn’t have health insurance now.

“All that stuff is happening. Going into camp, you’re like, ‘F— man, I better be good this year. I better be really good this year because this is affecting your home life now.’ It’s a lot that happened, but I put a lot of work in to get to this point.”

Hoffman signed a minor-league deal with the Twins on Feb. 27. He pitched in a game six days later. He struck out eight and walked three in five spring appearances. He was a free agent again by March 28. The Phillies offered another minor-league deal but told him he’d be in the majors at some point.

“Well, every team says that,” Hoffman said. “So you have to sift through the bullsh–.”

He did.

Hoffman is excited. He’s pitching his best when the Phillies need it; he’s allowed one run in his past 15 games (14 1/3 innings) with 21 strikeouts and two walks. “He’s showed us something,” Thomson said earlier this month. He might be the manager’s second-most trusted righty reliever. The Phillies asked him to throw his slider more and to deploy his splitter in different situations than before. Hoffman was open to all of the ideas.

Whatever happens in the next month, Hoffman is assured an offseason with less anxiety. He took a risk, the Phillies made a bet, and everyone has profited. Hoffman has since earned another $250,000 in incentives based on games pitched. The Phillies control his rights for 2024. Maybe there’s a multi-year deal to explore.

One morning inside the Phillies clubhouse, Hoffman glanced at Gregory Soto, whose locker is next to him. Soto hails from the Dominican Republic and he was a teenager when he signed with the Detroit Tigers. Hoffman shook his head. Now, he understands. Hoffman was so close to disappearing to a foreign country to chase baseball.

“It makes you appreciate what these guys do because they come over when they’re 17 and they’re here forever,” Hoffman said. “As long as they play. It’s insane. Leave your family. Leave everything.”

But Hoffman stayed. Life, man.

“Yeah,” Hoffman said. “Life.”

(Top photo: Rich Graessle / Icon Sportswire / Associated Press)

Matt Gelb is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Philadelphia Phillies. He has covered the team since 2010 while at The Philadelphia Inquirer, including a yearlong pause from baseball as a reporter on the city desk. He is a graduate of Syracuse University and Central Bucks High School West.