NL DIVISION SERIES: PHILLIES VS BRAVES

October 9, 2023

Jeff Hoffman

Truist Park

Philadelphia Phillies

Pregame 2 Press Conference

Q. Hey, Jeff. Welcome to the playoffs. In May when we got to kind of know you a little bit, I don't know that any of us thought that we'd be having this conversation. Is it kind of a pinch-me moment? Has it been for the last week or so?

JEFF HOFFMAN: Yeah. It has and hasn't. I think I've been asked that question a lot. I think early on in the season, it was like, all right, I'm back. Let's see where this season takes us.

Obviously I put the work in to get back here. Now let's see where it takes us. But I think as the season went on, obviously pitching in a little bit better situations and kind of earning my way into those, and now it's just like, you know, let's go.

I don't think it's really pinch me anymore. I think I'm just ready to roll and ready to see what the postseason has in store for us.

Q. When did the staff sort of inform you what your role would be, because even four weeks ago, we didn't know who was going to be doing exactly what out of the bullpen. When did you know what your role would be and can you just sort of describe what it was like on Saturday night coming in?

JEFF HOFFMAN: Yeah. Leading up to Saturday night, it was kind of almost like written in the stars with the way I was being used the last couple of weeks of the season where it was a lot of dirty innings, coming in with guys on base, just doing my best to strand those runners and get us back in the dugout.

And then on Saturday night, I'm sure the story is out about Topper coming out and telling a bunch of guys, hey, let's be ready early night. Just because we have the off day coming up, we have the ability to be aggressive with the bullpen.

So him telling us that, obviously that's what you're looking forward to and that's what you're being prepared for.

Q. Jeff, pitching in the postseason is new for you, and I'm wondering if you've leaned on any teammates or coaches or anyone to kind of help ease that transition.

JEFF HOFFMAN: Yeah, definitely. Craig is the easy one. Obviously he's been there, done that. Done it for so long, at the highest level. And, honestly, like he has the same mentality as a lot of the guys in the bullpen, which we're all out there kind of keeping it loose, not really pressing until we have to.

That's kind of I feel like what's made us really good is the fact that we're loose out there, we're not really pressing. And looking forward to stuff that might not happen. We're just reading the game. And when that phone rings, we're all locked and ready to go.

Q. How do you guys keep things loose in the bullpen?

JEFF HOFFMAN: Well, honestly, a lot of it is not talking about baseball, because that's what's going to be your stressor there for the next however many hours.

No, for me personally, I like to just, you know, normal conversation, talk about the kids, talk about, you know, anything else, because if you try to stay locked in for a full nine innings, it can be mentally just draining and exhausting. And then you set yourself up for failure because you've been thinking about stuff that's going to happen two hours from now all day long.

So talk about whatever, football, kids, family, life, all that kind of stuff.

Q. You mentioned the dirty innings and Rob constantly talks about you as the right-handed reliever they want to go to with men on base and half your appearances this year, you've entered with guys on base and your numbers are pretty identical. Is that something that has always been the case for you and why do you think you've had so much success in those instances this season?

JEFF HOFFMAN: Well, no, it hasn't been the case for me, I don't think. I've never worked my way into pitching situations like the ones I'm pitching in now.

Cincinnati was kind of garbage time innings. Colorado, I was a starter for most of the time, didn't really relieve that much. But, yeah, found something that I'm good at, and we're kind of riding with it right now.

I think obviously the first few times, if you succeed in it, they roll with you a little bit. And like, all right, see if you can keep going. And for the most part, it's worked out this year, so happy to do it.

Q. Jeff, so far this postseason, your teammates have referred to you as Hoff Daddy and the Garbage Man. Do you have a preference on your nickname?

JEFF HOFFMAN: No, I don't really have a preference. The Hoff Daddy thing was actually something that Nick had for me in Cincinnati. But, no. They're just going to call you whatever they want anyway. So that question doesn't even need an answer.

Q. Jeff, can you talk a little bit about your splitter, when you started throwing it, the development of a pitch and just how much of a weapon it has been for you?

JEFF HOFFMAN: Yeah, I actually started throwing it back in Colorado. It was a pitch that we implemented because my changeup wasn't very good at all. I spun it too much. It really was just like a BP, a batting practice fastball.

So we needed to find something that we could kill spin with, and that ended up being splitting the grip that I had in my hand. And then we started seeing a little bit more movement, a little bit more soft contact, like soft contact rates started going up.

And through the years, that was probably 2019 when I started throwing it. Cincinnati ticked up a little bit more. And then once we realized how well it was going to play with the added velocity on my slider, that's when it really kind of took off.

And now the slider and the splitter are kind of same velocity, and basically the hitter just has to decide which one it is, and one's going to turn left and one's going to turn right.

Q. Jeff, just following on the question about dirty innings and your success with stranding runners, why do you think you've been successful at it? Is it a mentality thing when you come in? Is it a stuff thing? Why do you think you've been successful at being able to play that role?

JEFF HOFFMAN: I think it's probably a little bit of both of those. It's definitely -- I mean, I wouldn't be good at it if I didn't have the stuff that I have.

I also don't think I would be good at it if I wasn't ready mentally to go into those situations. I think the big thing for my success this year has just been trying to pound the zone more, not necessarily nibble at the corners in the zone, but just like throw everything in the zone, and therefore, make the hitter make the decision.

Is it going to stay up, is it going to go down? Is it going to turn left or right. And I think once I started doing that and taking that from outing and outing, I realized the success was coming much more frequently, and here we are, and it's still my game plan.

Q. When you come into those dirty innings, we all know how important defense down the middle is. You've got Johan Rojas in the outfield. What type of confidence does he instill when he's flying around out there for when you're coming into those situations that you're in?

JEFF HOFFMAN: Yeah, so much. Knowing that that big chunk of the outfield, if nothing else, is under wraps, and nothing's going to fall out there. It's awesome.

And, honestly, I'm not out there ever really trying to shy away from contact. Like I said, I'm pounding the zone. If they do put it in play, great. If they miss it, that's awesome, too, whatever.

But when you have guys like Rojas and Stott and Turner up the middle, you know, Bohmer has been so good at third this year, and first, I think it just makes it -- it takes a little bit more stress off you, and put it in play, don't put it in play, doesn't matter. We're going to get you out.