
The Toronto Blue Jays have signed relief pitcher Jeff Hoffman of Latham, New York to a three-year contract worth $33 million according to Ben Nicholson-Smith of Rogers Sportsnet on Friday. The signing comes after the Baltimore Orioles expressed concern with Hoffman’s physical and they decided to pursue former Okotoks Dawgs pitcher Andrew Kittredge instead. The Blue Jays are expected to name Hoffman their closer for the 2025 Major League Baseball season. He is replacing Canadian Jordan Romano of Markham, Ontario, who is ironically joining the Phillies.
In Hoffman’s MLB career, he has pitched for three franchises in the past. He has pitched for the Colorado Rockies for five seasons from 2016 to 2020, the Cincinnati Reds for two seasons in 2021 and 2022, and the last two seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2023 and 2024.
Hoffman was an All-Star with the Phillies in 2024. This past season, he pitched in 68 games and had a record of three wins and three losses with an earned run average of 2.17. In 66 1/3 innings pitched, Hoffman had 10 saves, 21 holds and 89 strikeouts, and gave up 48 hits, 16 earned runs, six home runs, and 16 walks, to go along with a WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) of 0.97.
Interestingly, Hoffman was originally drafted by the Blue Jays in the first round, ninth overall, in the 2014 MLB Draft. He was then traded to the Rockies on July 28, 2015 in the Troy Tulowitzki blockbuster trade.