It figured to be one of the more intriguing lenses with which to view this Blue Jays 2025 season: Comparing the performance of new closer Jeff Hoffman with the popular man he replaced and essentially swapped teams with in Jordan Romano.
If you expected drama, the only dose so far has been the hard-to-watch struggles of the former Canadian closer, who has laboured with the Phillies and has been booed off the field by the notoriously ruthless Philadelphia fans.
Back here in Romano’s homeland, Hoffman isn’t just saving (and winning) games, he quickly has endeared himself to the Rogers Centre faithful.
Most importantly, he also has become a valued finisher in manager John Schneider’s bullpen, forming the back end of a ferocious one-two punch with Yimi Garcia.
It’s not an overstatement to suggest that Hoffman has played a large role in the encouraging 11-8 record the Blue Jays took into Thursday’s off day ahead of a three-game weekend series against the visiting Seattle Mariners. Twice he was pitched two-inning stints in his nine appearances while recording a pair of wins, four saves and a tidy ERA of 1.74.
Through his 10.1 innings of work — the most recent a save in Wednesday’s 3-1 win to finish off a 2-1 series win over the visiting Atlanta Braves — Hoffman has held opponents to a skimpy .171 batting average.
He also happens to be a mild-mannered personality on the field and off, perhaps breaking the mold of those more bombastic characters in his role.
“I don’t really group myself in with the type that everybody falls in love with, the super-intense closer type,” Hoffman said in describing his personality during a recent interview. “I obviously get excited on the mound if I get a big out, but for the most part, I’m just trying to keep the lower heart rate.”
There’s a psychological strategy to that mindset as well, as Hoffman explains.
“I know that everybody else’s heart is racing at that point in the game, so if I can keep mine lower, I’ll be in a good spot to execute my plan,” Hoffman said. “It just allows me to think clearly when I’m out there. There’s so much going on, like a stadium full of screaming people.
“The quieter I can make my head and just get in that tunnel vision, I think that works better for me than getting super jacked up or caffeine-filled and all that stuff that some other guys do.
“It works for me, no matter how loud it is in the building.”
The veering road that has taken Hoffman to shut-down closer dude has been far from a direct route. Well known in this market as a first-round draft pick of the Jays in 2014, he never played a game here until this season.
Famously dealt to Colorado in the swap for Troy Tulowitzki a decade ago, the 6-foot-5, 236-pound right hander took some time to find his niche.
Since then, it has been a journey complete with a lightbulb moment in 2023 spring training with the Minnesota Twins, a team he never threw a pitch for in a regular-season game.
“I was only with them for a month, but it was clear then that my stuff had had taken a step forward, kind of closer to what it was in college,” Hoffman said. “And during that month in the outings I was pitching in, I started to get some swings that I wasn’t familiar with seeing anymore because my stuff wasn’t good enough. Check swings, indecisive swings, that kind of thing.
“That’s when I knew I had this revamped arsenal that could get a lot of chase and swing-and-miss. It was the closest thing to a turning point.”
There was another flashpoint as well and it had to do with arm care. Major League Baseball is littered with pitchers who have thrown their arms out. But Hoffman took it a step beyond just avoiding injury.
“I stopped throwing so much,” Hoffman said. “I started taking the less-is-more approach from an on-field volume standpoint. I still do all the same stuff in the weight room. I just don’t absolutely gas my arm every single day.
“I like to go home feeling good at night rather than hanging and having to get back to the point where I can do it again the next day. It’s done me good.”
And he has done good work for the Jays, as well. While Romano struggles with the Phillies, Hoffman has won over Jays fans with his walkout show and especially his performance.
“I’m going to continue to do what I do and be in a good spot and hopefully help this team win a bunch of ball games this year,” Hoffman said.
There was even a bit of cheekiness in Baltimore this past weekend when he blew a kiss at the O’s dugout following a save, a less-than-subtle reminder of the team that walked away from a free-agent deal because of a “failed” medical report.
The fact that he passed with flying colours in Toronto was the Blue Jays gain — and then some.
