TORONTO – Jeff Hoffman went home to Florida for the off-day, spent time with his family, caught a little sun and then returned to Toronto, where a discussion about his role with the Blue Jays loomed.
Back at the Rogers Centre, manager John Schneider told the 33-year-old Friday that the club planned to “share the responsibility” of the ninth inning, a pause from the pressures and high-stakes of closing while he and the team make sense of his confounding start.
Hoffman wishes things were different, obviously, but noted “it gets to the point where it’s just not cutting it and it needs to change,” and that “we’ve got plenty of guys that can do what I do.”
“They’re doing it better than what I’m doing right now and that gives them the nod to go out there and do it for the group,” he added. “I’m good for whatever is going to put us in the best position to win as many games as possible.”
Ultimately, a Hoffman whose results match the underlying numbers is pivotal to the Blue Jays’ larger goals, which is why solving the riddle of his poor results is of the utmost urgency. While Louis Varland might seem an obvious candidate to pitch the ninth, backfilling with him would only create another hole, as he’s faced, by far, more leverage than any of the other relievers in the bullpen.
That’s why, for the time being, the Blue Jays will mix-and-match late rather than “putting the ninth inning on anyone in particular,” said Schneider, whose goal will be to line up Hoffman, Varland, Tyler Rogers, Braydon Fisher and Mason Fluharty against the pockets of opposing lineup they’re best suited to handle.
“It’s still finding spots for guys,” continued Schneider, “so whoever that may be in the ninth inning, for now, it’ll be that guy.”
General manager Ross Atkins added that within that set-up, Hoffman “is still going to be getting very important outs for us and very much believe in him as a weapon for us.”
The underlying numbers are a prime reason for that, as Hoffman’s whiff rate of 46.1 ranks in the 100th percentile, strikeout rate of 42.1 in the 99th percentile and chase rate of 40.6 per cent in the 98th percentile. That’s elite stuff.
Several other predictive metrics suggest he should be getting way better results, too, but one number, an absurdly and unsustainably high BABIP of .609 (14-for-23, which doesn’t include the two home runs against because they’re not in play) is preventing him from reaping the rewards of all that swing and miss.
“I need, when the ball gets put in play, there to be somebody standing there,” he said wryly. “That’s what I need.”
To that end, Hoffman and the Blue Jays spent a lot of time talking about pitch selection and sequencing, and that will be part of their focus. So too will be working ahead, another element that’s already been on his radar.
Still, part of his approach is “to keep banging your head against the wall, pretty much,” because 24 strikeouts in 10.2 innings is a type of dominance they’ll be wary of interrupting.
“There have been plenty of mistakes made that have contributed to what I’ve been doing out there right now – some of it is stuff that I can control, some of it is not,” said Hoffman. “I have to continue to do what I’m doing, which sucks to say, because what I’m doing right now isn’t working. But I can’t stop striking people out, that’s what I’m out there to do. So I have to continue to do that. And then when balls do get put in play, I need it to not be a base hit and then we’ll probably be having a completely different conversation.”
The Blue Jays are counting on that because they want Yimi Garcia, slated for another session of live batting practice next week before starting a rehab assignment, and Brendon Little, finding his way at triple-A Buffalo, to eventually return as reinforcements, not saviours.
Assuming health and continued performance, adding them would give the Blue Jays enviable bullpen depth, especially if Hoffman regains his Philadelphia Phillies form of 2023 and 2024 at the back-end.
“I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that he’s striking out half the hitters he’s facing,” said Schneider. “There’s a component to it where you want to just stop some momentum and we’re still going to use him in big spots. It’s not like, hey, I’m not going to pitch you unless we’re up or down by five or six. It’s just, hey, let’s take the ninth inning off of it and share that for a little bit and see how see how that goes and kind of just get some momentum going the other way. He was on board. He gets it. He just wants to win. I still trust him. It’s been a weird year for him for sure.”
Hoffman is living that weirdness more than anyone, which is why he insists he’s unfazed by the move out of the ninth.
“I’m going to go about my work the same and continue to try to get better,” he said. “That’s what I do. That’s what we all do. It’ll be fine. For the time being, somebody will go out there and get the job done for us and then hopefully, if I do what I need to do, it switches back at some point.”