Hoffman brings more maturity
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ.» Being the odd man out was not part of Jeff Hoffman’s blueprint last spring.
The right-hander was ultraconfident he would be a key member of the Rockies’ starting rotation when the regular season opened. But Hoffman didn’t come close to reaching his goal. He was optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque with 10 days left in spring training, having pitched just 5 M Cactus League innings.
The sting of that demotion, and the lessons learned, have stayed with Hoffman. Now he believes he’s in a better place as the Rockies officially open camp Wednesday with workouts for pitchers and catchers.
“Coming in last year, I didn’t really have the best outlook,” Hoffman said Monday. “Being one of the guys who got called up (in 2016), I felt like I almost had a step up on some of the other young guys, which was not good.”
Did Hoffman, the ninth overall pick of the 2014 draft and the cornerstone of the 2015 trade that sent shortstop Troy Tulowitkzi to Toronto, feel like he was entitled to a spot in the rotation?
“No, not entitled,” he said. “But it was almost like I was trying to guide those other young guys. I didn’t need to be doing that. I just needed to worry more about taking care of myself and learning what I needed to learn.”
This spring, Hoffman, 25, is one of seven pitchers battling for five rotation spots. He has a lot to prove, but his new attitude pleases manager Bud Black.
“I think that’s great. I really do,” Black said. “For me, that encompasses maturity. The sooner the player has that self-realization of who he is, and where he is maturity-wise, that’s a beautiful thing.
“There is no doubt the talent is there, but — and Jeff has said this to me — there are times (when) players have an unrealistic evaluation of who they are and what really they can do. And I think Jeff learned a lot through what he went through last season.”
Roller coaster is an apt description of Hoffman’s 2017 season that concluded with a 6-5 record and a 5.89 ERA. After getting called up from Triple-A, it appeared, for a time, that Hoffman had turned the corner. In three dominating starts against the Phillies, Padres and Cubs in late May and early June, he pitched 20L innings, allowing just three earned runs on 10 hits, while striking out 22 and walking only one.
But with July and August came some command issues, a drop in fastball velocity and an increase in home runs allowed. When Atlanta mashed four home runs off him in 4 L innings on Aug. 17, Hoffman was sent back to Triple-A. The Rockies brought him back up in September as a mop-up reliever, but he did poorly, allowing 11 runs and seven walks in 7 M innings.
Hoffman views this spring as a fresh start, but the goal remains the same: Make the starting rotation, albeit with a different approach.
“I was a little bit mad at myself last year for putting myself behind the 8-ball a little bit,” he said. “It was definitely hard for me to get sent down at the beginning and see all of the success the other guys were having. To not be a part of that was hard.
“But now, looking back on it, I think it was a good growing experience. It was a transition year, and in the long run, I think it will make me better.”