Philadelphia Phillies All-Star Is Now a Top High Leverage Free Agent

The Philadelphia Phillies All-Star is headed to free agency where he will be one of the top high leverage arms available.

Oct 6, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies relief pitcher Jeff Hoffman (23) throws a pitch against the New York Mets in the ninth inning during game two of the NLDS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Citizens Bank Park. / Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies saw a veteran pitcher continue his breakout with the team, earning his first All-Star nod this past season. Now, the team must decide if they want to bring him back.

In examining the state of the reliever market in free agency, Zach Pressnell of FanSided spoke highly of Jeff Hoffman as a high leverage arm out of the bullpen.

"Though Jeff Hoffman wasn't the most reliable arm in the postseason, he was a staple of the Phillies' bullpen all season long, said Pressnell. "He posted elite strikeout numbers and very low walk rates. Hoffman will be an elite setup man in 2025, no matter which team lands him."

For the first seven years of his career, Hoffman was an okay bullpen arm at best. Granted, playing for the Colorado Rockies doesn't normally lead to the best ERA numbers for a pitcher.

In his five seasons as a Rockies reliever, he had just a 6.40 ERA with a WHIP of 1.621 and he struck out just 7.7 batters per nine innings.

When he left to join the Cincinnati Reds, things got a bit better, though. The New York native brought his ERA down to 4.28 and bumped up his strikeout numbers a bit.

Philadelphia brought him in on a minor league deal at the start of the 2023 season. He tried to opt-out of his deal after spending April in the minor leagues, but he was called up and spent the entire campaign as a breakout star.

He continued his breakout into this past campaign, giving him two great years of baseball as a member of the Phillies.

Since coming to Philadelphia, Hoffman has a regular season ERA of 2.28 with 12.0 K/9 and a WHIP of 0.944.

The 31-year-old excelled in high leverage situations this past season, with batters posting just a .210/.259/.298 slashing line against him in those outings.

Unfortunately, his season imploded this past offseason, putting a damper on his otherwise great time with the team.

He gave up six runs and walked two batters in just 1.1 innings of work across three outings against the New York Mets.

While the postseason struggles are worrying, his solid playoff campaign in 2023 could mean this was just an unfortunate cold streak.

With a couple of arms leaving the bullpen, Hoffman seems like a prime candidate to return in free agency. With the best years of his career coming here, there should be mutual interest.