Starter or reliever? Stay with the Phillies or go elsewhere? All-Star Jeff Hoffman opens up on free agency

Jeff Hoffman is one of the most sought-after relievers in this offseason's free agent class after a dominant run with the Philadelphia Phillies, but it took an incredible career turnaround to get him here.

On the eve of the 2023 season, the former No. 9 overall pick failed to make the Minnesota Twins' Opening Day roster and became a free agent. He had just 0.9 career WAR at the time -- and 0.0 WAR in his previous five seasons. But he caught on with the Phillies on a minor league deal and went on a two-year tear after being added to the major league roster in May 2023, posting 3.5 WAR that ranks fifth in the majors among relievers in that span. Now, he is poised to cash in after rediscovering what made him a high draft pick in the first place.

There are a number of questions as the 31-year-old right-hander prepares for his offseason payday: how he made this turnaround, if he wants to transition back to being a starting pitcher, if the vibes in Philly are strong enough to compel him to return and what his priorities are in finding a new club.

I caught up with Hoffman as he chooses his next home (or decides to stay in his current one).

How Hoffman turned it around

To understand how Hoffman reinvented himself in Philadelphia, you first must understand where things started to go wrong. Hoffman went from a top prospect to a struggling young pitcher with the Colorado Rockies and Cincinnati Reds.

After being selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2014 draft while recovering from Tommy John surgery, he made 13 minor league starts the next season before being dealt to Colorado in the Troy Tulowitzki trade. Hoffman made the big leagues in 2016 with the Rockies and posted a solid 1.1 WAR campaign in 2017, primarily as a starter (99⅓ innings, 4.76 ERA). After that, though, he was either injured or ineffective, including two seasons with the Reds and a spring training with the Twins. Hoffman doesn't mince words on what held him back early in his professional career, pointing to the instruction he was given and his attempt to integrate it all.

"I was fed a lot of mechanical bulls--- through my early years, coaches trying to make their mark," Hoffman said. "[Mechanics] was like the ball and chain I was tied down to. If I would have picked and choosed through that stuff, I wouldn't have ended up wasting a few years early in my career. ... I'm a learner, I'm a listener, I took a few too many of the mechanical cues, always trying to please and be respectful of whoever is giving the information."

Still, Hoffman believes the gradual accumulation of new parts of his game ultimately helped turn him into an All-Star. He just needed to fine-tune what he had picked up along the way and learn to pitch without having too many intrusive thoughts (and outside voices) in his head.

"When I stopped thinking about 'Where's my front side?' or 'When is my heel on the ground?' and all that B.S., I was able to improve my command, my velocity got better and I'm not necessarily trying to throw hard now, that's just how it's coming out," he said. "My body is moving the way I want to move."

The pitch mix that figures to get him an eight-figure contract this winter started with things he implemented during his turbulent times in Colorado and Cincinnati.

"In Colorado, I introduced a splitter. It wasn't a true splitter, more of a splitter-changeup. It wasn't coming out as hard, I didn't throw it as much as I should have," Hoffman said. "I had always thrown a curveball. I was always attached to it. I didn't mess with a slider much, then Cincinnati brought a slider to me, trying to get the velo up. I couldn't get it up to 86-88 miles per hour to match the splitter, I was really fighting with that. ... 'Why can't I do that if I'm throwing my fastball 95 miles per hour?'"

How Hoffman dominates

Had the Twins taken just a little bit more time to see what they had, perhaps Hoffman's breakout would have come in Minnesota instead of Philadelphia. He points to that spring with Minnesota as the first time he felt like the same pitcher who had impressed scouts as a draft prospect.

"It was the beginning of my delivery getting back to what it looked like in college. My stuff was coming out better and more explosively, getting ugly swings again, good positive signs.

"If you look at me now vs. Cape Cod and early in my career ... I now look a lot more similar to my college career than how I looked in Cincinnati and Colorado. I've completely shed some of that early minor league stuff that I was given."

Hoffman's stuff was so nasty during his time in the prospect-filled Cape Cod League that watching him pitch there in 2013 remains among the most impressive amateur starts I have scouted.

But there is one area where Hoffman clearly exceeds even that early version of himself. He has the Twins to thank for unlocking the velocity that has made the slider his signature pitch.

"Pete Maki [Twins pitching coach in 2023] said let's try a cutter. Throw it like a fastball then flick left at the end. It was terrible but it was 89 miles per hour in a bullpen session. 'Oh s---, that works!' It was just a chase to repeat the velo, even if I gave up a home run, just throw it 89 miles per hour and call it a slider. Day by day, chasing that ... sometimes it just takes a mental cue, and you are behind the ball instead of beside it [at release]."

Armed with a mid-90s fastball and an upper-80s slider and split when he joined the Phillies' bullpen, Hoffman was ready to be unleashed.

"Fastball, slider, split all feel the same out of my hand, just the grip changes," Hoffman said. "They all come out like I'm throwing 100 [mph] down the middle and the grip and spins take care of the movement. The force on which fingers is the key."

He thinks of his arsenal as four fastballs that all move in different directions. "My splitter is no longer [an] off-speed pitch, it's just a different version of my fastball. My sinker is a bowling ball type fastball, the slider is one that moves left. I view my split as a split-finger fastball and not a forkball, that's important. ... It helps me to have a high velo floor on everything."

Hoffman had a history of worse-than-average walk rates until landing with the Phillies. That, too, was more of an approach issue than a physical one. "There are command pitchers and stuff pitchers, don't ask one to be the other."

"Like in golf, aim for the center so you can miss a bit right or left," Hoffman said. "I don't think I'm a command pitcher but I'm not bad at throwing strikes. I'm going to beat you because it's too hard for the hitter to make the decision."

You probably don't expect a late-inning, fire-breathing reliever with swing-and-miss stuff to be that focused on throwing the ball in the strike zone, but it's key to how Hoffman attacks.

"I think about the hitter being defensive to what I'm doing, not trying to perform the perfect pitch. It's a game of swing decisions and I want to put pressure on those decisions. I can get swings off the plate because they know I'm challenging them and coming into the zone."

Hoffman doesn't look at a ton of dense information after the game, instead he measures himself by three metrics: in-zone miss rate, zone rate, and barrel rate. "I like to keep it 88 miles per hour and lower. If I start giving up 95-plus [mph exit velo batted balls], all it takes is the right trajectory and it could be out of the park. Late in the game, you can't be giving that up. Starters are told the solo home run won't kill you. As a reliever, the solo home run kills you.

"What I've taken from all the stats, video, study, and Edgertronic video is that the way the ball comes out of your hand helps you really understand why the pitches move the way they do. It makes it easier to make adjustments and it's a game of adjustments. You don't necessarily have your best stuff every night but need to make it work."

Starter or reliever?

While Hoffman ranks near the top of the list of relievers in this winter's class, there is growing industry chatter that teams are kicking the tires on him as a starter -- if he's interested in signing on for a new role.

"I think I would be a great starter if given that opportunity again," Hoffman said. "It was cool seeing what [Reynaldo Lopez and Jordan Hicks] did last year and, for me with how healthy I am and what I've done the last few years with my arsenal, it's an interesting thought. ... It makes sense that guys with deeper arsenals than most relievers have found success."

Hoffman understands that returning to a major league rotation for the first time since Colorado moved him to the bullpen following the 2019 season would be a unique test. He also knows there is an unmatched feeling to pitching in the pressure-packed high-leverage situations he has thrived in the past two seasons.

"Until it got brought back up [by interested teams], I assumed that ship had sailed. ... It would be totally different than the first go round. I feel like I'm 24 years old again. ... I'm moving the way I'm supposed to now. I view [starting] as a great challenge. I'm as healthy as I've ever been. I would welcome the opportunity. ... I love pitching out of the bullpen and late in games, too."

He's open to a new career twist, but he's also quite happy with who has become.

"All things being equal, I want to get the last out."

What Hoffman wants this winter

Hoffman has more to weigh this winter than signing as a starting pitcher or as a reliever.

During his time in Philadelphia, he became accustomed to pitching in the biggest spots for one of the best teams in baseball, in front of one of the most passionate fan bases in the sport. Those factors make a return to the Phillies a strong possibility.

"It's hard to even explain what it feels like pitching in Philly, because of the noise, how in tune with the game [the fans] are, it feels like the field surface is alive," he said. "When the big moments happen, you can hear it from the ground up, like the stadium has the same heartbeat as you."

If Hoffman does leave the Phillies for a new team, he'll be looking for an organization with similar priorities.

"The thing that's most important to me is being on a contender, playing deep into October," he said. "Playing meaningful baseball, it makes the clubhouse that much more enjoyable when everyone is playing for the same thing. That's what I want out of my next situation."