Jeff Hoffman

Position: RHP
Born: 1/8/1993
Height: 6'5
Weight: 225
B/T: R/R
Acquired: Via trade from the Blue Jays on July 28, 2015, along with SS Jose Reyes, RHP Miguel Cairo and RHP Jesus Tinoco for SS Troy Tulowitzki and RHP LaTroy Hawkins (COL). Originally drafted in the ninth round of the 2014 MLB First-Year Player Draft (TOR).

Most Recent Stats at Time of Debut
CURRENT SEASON STATS: 6-9 with a 4.02 ERA in 22 starts at Albuquerque (Triple-A), striking out 124 while walking 44 and allowing 117 hits in 118.2 IP.

Info & MLB Debut Date
Contract purchased from Albuquerque August 20 when RHP Christian Bergman was sent down and LHP Jason Gurka was designated for assignment to clear a spot on the 40-man roster.
MLB Debut Date: 8/20/2016

Debut Details
August 20, in a 9-2 loss to the Cubs. The starting pitcher, he took the loss, allowing seven runs, six of them earned, on seven hits in four-plus innings, walking one and striking out two. He faced three batters in the fifth inning. He also made an error on a pickoff attempt. The first batter he faced, Dexter Fowler, singled to center field but Kris Bryant then flew out to center and Anthony Rizzo grounded into a double play to end the threat. Hoffman tossed three shutout innings, including 1-2-3 innings in the second (in which he capped the inning with his first big-league strikeout of Jorge Soler swinging) and third, before running into trouble in the fourth. Once again, Fowler got things started with a leadoff single to right and moved to third on Hoffman’s errant pickoff attempt throw. He scored on Bryant’s single to right, and Rizzo followed with a third consecutive single to right. Ben Zobrist then doubled to center to score Bryant. Hoffman got the next two batters out, with Addison Russell grounding out and Soler flying out, before Miguel Montero’s two-out two-run single to center scored Rizzo and Zobrist before Matt Szczur lined out to end the fourth inning. In the fifth, pitcher Mike Montgomery led things off by reaching second on an error by first baseman Ryan Raburn, and after Fowler drew a walk, Bryant hit a three-run homer, ending the day and closing the book on Hoffman as reliever Chris Rusin came on.

Player Notes
Hoffman, the staff ace at ECU in 2014, underwent Tommy John surgery the month before the June draft and so he did not make his pro debut until 2015 and both of the teams that have had his rights have, understandably, continued to be very careful with his innings count. In his pro debut in ’15, he combined to go 5-5 with a 3.03 ERA in 20 starts among Dunedin (High A/Blue Jays), New Hampshire (Double-A/Blue Jays) and New Britain (Double-A/Rockies), striking out 75 and walking 27 in 104 innings while allowing 95 hits. Before his surgery he was throwing a fastball that came close to 100 mph, and since his recovery he’s regained most of that heat, sitting around the middle 90s and supplementing the pitch with a power curveball, changeup and slider.

2080 Notes
Hoffman checked in at No. 28 on our Preseason Top 125 Prospect Rankings List, where we had this to say about him: “A main piece to the Troy Tulowitzki trade with Toronto, Hoffman was heralded by the Rockies. Before his Tommy John surgery at East Carolina, Hoffman was considered a strong 1:1 candidate going into the 2014 draft. A mid-90s fastball and potential curveball are the carrying tools for him, and as long as his command gets refined, Hoffman should have a quality #3 starter ceiling.” Nick J. Faleris also wrote this Prospect Spotlight on Hoffman.