The Toronto Blue Jays stuck with Jeff Hoffman as their closer after his blown save in Game 7 of the 2025 World Series. But that patience has apparently reached its limit.
Blue Jays manager Ross Atkins told reporters Friday the team is demoting Hoffman from the closer role and will instead employ a closer-by-committee approach for the time being, according to MLB.com’s Jason Foster.
Atkins reportedly insisted Hoffman will still be part of the late-inning mix:
“In the short term, we are going to share that [closing] responsibility,” Atkins said. “He’s still going to be getting very important outs for us, and I very much believe in him as a weapon for us.”
The decision comes after a miserable start to the season for Hoffman, who holds a 7.59 ERA through 12 appearances and has converted only three of six save opportunities. He is one of four relievers tied for the MLB lead in blown saves, with three.
There’s also the lingering specter of his blown save in November, when he surrendered a game-tying home run to Los Angeles Dodgers veteran Miguel Rojas in the most painful loss in Blue Jays history. Even so, the franchise had stood by him as its closer until Friday.
Hoffman is in the second year of a three-year, $33 million contract with the Blue Jays, which he signed after a strong run with the Philadelphia Phillies. He posted a 4.37 ERA in 59 appearances last year.
Is Jeff Hoffman just unlucky?
We’ll say this: It hasn’t been all bad for Hoffman.
He’s striking out batters at an elite rate of 42.1%, which is the second-best mark in baseball among pitchers with at least 10 innings pitched. Less good (but still not awful) is his 10.5% walk rate. What’s actually going wrong for him is that batters are simply getting way more hits and homers than usual when they put the ball in play.
Among that same group of pitchers with at least 10 innings, Hoffman leads in both batting average on balls in play at .609 and home runs per fly ball rate at 33.3%. That’s despite his Baseball Savant batted ball data not showing much carnage. His 32% hard-hit rate is actually better than average, as is his 48% groundball rate.
So we could be talking about a supremely unlucky pitcher, but at some point, the actual results have to be addressed. This is why Toronto is making a change but still leaving the door open for Hoffman to pitch in the late innings.
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