Phillies Jeff Hoffman Ranks Among Games Best Setup Relievers

The Philadelphia Phillies (69-50) spent the better part of the first half of the season with one of the best bullpen ERAs in baseball. A huge part of their bullpen's success was thanks to setup man Jeff Hoffman .

In a recent article from Bleacher Report , Joel Reuter ranked the game's best players at each position right now. After ranking fifth in last month's power rankings, Hoffman ranks sixth in the most recent edition.

Hoffman, 31, signed with the Phillies in free agency on March 31st, 2023, just three days after being released by the Minnesota Twins (67-52). He spent most of his career bouncing between relief pitching and starting, but the Phillies viewed him as only a reliever and his career has been all the better for it.

In his first season with the Phillies, Hoffman pitched to a 2.41 ERA across 52 1/3 innings in 54 appearances with 69 strikeouts and a 180 ERA+.

This season, Hoffman has been even better. He enters Wednesday with a 1.98 ERA across 50 innings in 51 appearances with 69 strikeouts and a 206 ERA+. Before joining the Phillies, Hoffman had a career ERA+ of 86 across seven seasons. His combined ERA+ with the Phillies currently sits at 191.

Hoffman, like most of the Phillies, has not been as good in the second half of the season so far as he was in the first half.

In the first half of the season, Hoffman pitched to a 1.12 ERA across 40 1/3 innings in 41 appearances with 52 strikeouts. He held hitters to a line of .176/.231/.277 across 160 plate appearances. It would earn him the first All-Star nod of his career.

So far in the second half, Hoffman has pitched to a 5.59 ERA across 9 2/3 innings in 10 appearances with 17 strikeouts. Hitters have batted .270/.349/.487 across 43 plate appearances so far.

While Hoffman has not been as sharp in the second half as he was in the first half, he has still been one of the better relief pitchers for the Phillies. With 43 games remaining, the Phillies are hopeful that Hoffman can turn things around and help lead the bullpen back to prominence heading into the playoffs.