Three Springs Ago, the Twins Told Jeff Hoffman to Throw More Sliders—It Remade His Career

Signed by the Minnesota Twins to a minor-league contract in late February 2023, Jeff Hoffman pitched five innings in spring training before exercising his opt-out after being reassigned to minor-league camp. The hard-throwing righty quickly signed a minor-league deal with the Philadelphia Phillies, pitching nine innings for their Triple-A affiliate before having his contract selected in early May 2023.

The 30-year-old Hoffman immediately excelled with Philadelphia, netting a 2.41 ERA, 2.57 FIP, and a 33.2% strikeout rate over 52 1/3 innings pitched in 2023. He pitched at a similarly elite rate with Philadelphia in 2024, earning his first All-Star nod, before signing a three-year, $33 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays before the 2025 regular season. The veteran reliever struggled with Toronto last season, manufacturing a 4.37 ERA and 4.90 FIP over 68 innings pitched. However, he netted 33 saves (23 more than his prior career-high) while maintaining an elite strikeout rate.

Despite losing his closer role to now-elite reliever Louis Varland, Hoffman looked like the Philadelphia version of himself with Toronto this season, posting a 3.94 ERA, 2.49 FIP, and a 34.9% strikeout rate (the fifth-highest strikeout rate among relievers) over 48 innings pitched. Hoffman generating swing-and-miss at an elite rate is why Twins decision-makers sought him out. “When we went out to acquire for our bullpen, we wanted to acquire specific things: swing and miss or the ability to miss bats later in games and leverage was something that’s important to us,” stated manager Derek Shelton.

“He’s at what, 80 punch outs in 49 innings? Like, we did not have that in our bullpen. That is the thing that has been the most impressive and the thing we needed.” Hoffman shared a similar assessment. “I’ve pretty much led the AL in K/9 (strikeouts per nine innings pitched) all year.” Hoffman correctly proclaimed before noting his early-season struggles with the Blue Jays. “I think we got a little fastball-heavy in Toronto, both last year and this year…It seemed like every ball that was put in play was a hit, like, no matter how hard or how soft. There just wasn’t any, like, let up on that. So, it was like, all right, how do we limit the ball being put in play? And that was to throw the slider as much as possible and let the other two pitches complement that one.”

Hoffman’s intuition was correct. Since the beginning of May (roughly the time when he started throwing his slider more), the hard-tossing has netted a 2.89 ERA, 2.37 FIP, and an elite 32.5% strikeout rate over 37 1/3 innings pitched, accumulating one of his strongest stretches with Toronto. Hoffman is the best version of himself when relying heavily on his slider. It’s what turned his career around, becoming one of baseball’s best relievers with Philadelphia, and inking an eight-figure, multi-year contract with Toronto. Interestingly, Hoffman considers Minnesota to be the organization that sparked his mid-career renaissance in 2023.

“I kind of had an empty space in my arsenal that I needed to put the final puzzle piece in, um, because I was going out there with, like, a bad breaking pitch that didn’t tunnel with my fastball or splitter.” Then, Twins coaches suggested he throw his slider more. Hoffman added over six miles per hour of average velocity (81.2 MPH to 87.8 MPH) to the pitch from 2022 to 2023 while spiking his usage rate from 24% to 48%. “I needed something to kind of cover that empty space over there, so being able to add velocity to the slider (was) everything I needed out of the pitch. So, you know, when my feel is good with that pitch, then everything seems to fall into place.”

Everything fell into place for Hoffman soon after departing Minnesota in late March 2023, turning into one of the most efficient swing-and-miss relievers in baseball. The 34-year-old again appears to be finding light at the end of the tunnel—guided by his elite slider. This time, however, the Twins have the opportunity to reap the benefits of Hoffman’s adjusted arsenal, instead of watching him thrive elsewhere.