I said, 'Wow, dude, that is legit.' Here is a look at his movement chart. "I hurt my shoulder twice, basically," he said during a visit with B/R at Petco Park one morning last month. "And then when I realized my velocity was gone, that I didn't touch the mid-90s after that, that was kind of a bummer," Hoffman said. There's no reason. The slider is very effective for Hoffman to get to strike two to then use the change-up to put the hitter away and was a big reason he managed almost 10 K/G last year despite throwing softly. Hoffman also throws a fastball, slider, and an occasional curveball. Born Oct. 13, 1967 in Bellflower, Calif., Trevor Hoffman grew up in a baseball-centric atmosphere. Last year lefties had a .869 OPS against him and it is pretty clear the reasons for that. Hoffman is only getting swings on 20% of pitches out of the zone, and even when he does get swings he only gets swings and misses 22% (compared to 48% for his career) of the time. And that was before his day at the beach. by Handedness, 1989 June Amateur Draft - Round: 11, Pick: 20, Overall: 288, Team: Cincinnati Reds. The inquisitive Hoffman, his career appearing at a crossroads, asked Bochtler how he threw his changeup, an effective pitch the players had nicknamed "The Dreaded Letdown." The legend was born, the signature pitch perfected.

More searing pain. "Some of the things I was trying to do in the backyard I was trying to do with this pitch in somebody else's backyard.". So he saw doctors and started an injury rehabilitation program. The negative to this is that when a hitter does make contact he likely is going to hit the bottom part of the ball and hit the ball in the air. ", "We were doing flat ground work, and he threw me a couple that weren't very good," said Bochtler, who this winter was named San Diego's bullpen coach for 2016. "Poetic justice. Probably, in a twisted way, it helped. Why would he use a different part of his hand to throw the changeup? by Retrosheet.

Hoffman signed with the Brewers last week for a $6 million, one-year deal with another possible $1.5 in incentives. "That was Trevor's gig. "Here I am, I get to be in the best place in the world in August, when weather is perfect, I don't have to worry about going to work [because of the strike]. He will be giving a speech in Cooperstown one day, and if there is any justice, it will be this July.

and play-by-play data provided by Baseball Info Solutions. I don't know. Updated: Saturday, October 17, 2020 10:52 AM ET, Park Factors So when Hoffman comes in with no horizontal movement this can throw a hitter off. Also, because the pitch has almost no side spin it has a very large amount of back spin giving the pitch extremely large vertical “rise” again helping keep the bat off the sweet spot. @ScottMillerBbl breaks down how Tampa Bay continues meltdown as Houston rides comeback momentum.

Hoffman finished 1995 with 31 saves. We just recently updated our player pages for mobile and added a few new features! It is a classic story of taking what life gives you and turning it to your advantage. He doesn't spend much time looking back now, of course.

The backyards became bigger, and more plush. All UZR (ultimate zone rating) calculations are provided courtesy of Mitchel Lichtman. "I'm laughing at fate, I guess. Sign In. Support FanGraphs.
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Play-by-play data prior to 2002 was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted "What kind of career could I have had on the front end if I still had that velocity? Stupid.". The pitch that gets very little attention is Hoffman’s slider. And he hadn't had time off in the summer since his school days. It is almost as if he thought the people of San Diego would not remember him. Instead, he landed on a sandbar. While this move has met with a better reception it still represents a big gamble for the crew. Pitchers like to have a “hard” pitch that they bust the hitter in with and then a “soft” pitch they throw that breaks down and away to put the hitter away. It was crazy, man, to be there and, literally the first two of that Hall of Fame pitch, one of the best ever, I was on the receiving end of. "You can always armchair it afterward," he said. Will LA's Game 5 triumph supply the momentum needed to complete a comeback and return to the World Series? Hoffman’s change-up is pretty much exactly what a pitcher is looking for with a change-up. All major league baseball data including pitch type, velocity, batted ball location, April 26, 2009: Milwaukee Brewers activated RHP Trevor Hoffman from the 15-day disabled list. Still, that alone isn’t going to kill Hoffman who posted a FIP under four and an ERA+ just above one last year. Or do you just kind of roll throwing hard? Playing catch in the ocean, Hoffman dove for a ball in what he thought was reasonably deep water. Trevor Hoffman pitching game logs for Major League and Minor League baseball. Make lemonade out of lemons, right? Check out our. Hoffman very occasionally threw a curveball that moved like a good slider but was thrown around 71 mph. The day after the 1994 players' strike started, Hoffman and several friends with whom he grew up in Orange County headed to the ocean in Del Mar, a suburb of San Diego. He was 26 when the players' strike started. "And then having to go through basically the rehabilitation without surgery just to get it up and going again, there was a lot of remorse that that wasn't really what I should be doing. and play-by-play data provided by Baseball Info Solutions. Even if Hoffman looses another mph off his fastball that probably isn’t going to bother him much. Angels? Somewhere along on the line, Hoffman thought ahead. Updated: Saturday, October 17, 2020 10:52 AM ET, Park Factors

When he employed his index finger and thumb on the changeup, throwing with his fastball motion but using that part of his hand to choke off the velocity, things started to happen. All Win Expectancy, Leverage Index, Run Expectancy, and Fans Scouting Report data licenced from TangoTiger.com. I have talked about this a lot recently but the reason Hoffman can get away with this is his change-up hardly moves in to a right handed batter so it doesn’t end up moving in to the wheelhouse very often. "It was just stuff you did when you were a kid, man," he said.

as distributed by STATS. Hoffman saves the change-up for when it really matters, rarely throwing it with no strikes, sometimes throwing it with one strike, and throwing more often than all his other pitches combined with two strikes. If the ninth inning rolls around and there are several tough lefties due up it would probably be a better bet to have Brian Shouse (if resigned) or Mitch Stetter try for the save. "I tipped it but still didn't catch it. You almost never hear of a 81.5 mph slider called a hard slider but that is exactly what the pitch is. You can see how similar these pitches look and how little information the hitter has that the change-up is coming. Donate to FanGraphs. Elliott pinched a particular seam on the horseshoe-shaped part of the stitching when he threw his changeup so that, instead of the pressure on the ball coming through the outside of his hand—the pinky finger and finger next to it—it came from the index finger and the thumb.

The idea made sense. All UZR (ultimate zone rating) calculations are provided courtesy of Mitchel Lichtman. Now I get to be a kid and a summer I haven't had in 15 years. Yankees? This pitch combination makes Hoffman absolute death to a right-handed batter. Far more of a bummer, obviously, had he not perfected his devastating changeup and become the Padres' closer even with an under-construction repertoire in 1995. As such, the two became catch partners during pregame warm-ups. That is very solid movement, especially considering the relatively small difference between his slider and fastball speed. Now does the changeup ever show up? "So he throws it again, and I got leather on the next one," Bochtler said. Eventually, surely, yes. Second, the deception of the pitch is remarkable. “The most important thing is you’ve got to learn to trust it. "Not that I caught them. Trevor Hoffman has been closing game for the Padres for 15 years but with the Padres rebuilding Hoffman had to look elsewhere when he decided he wanted to come back for a 16th season as a 42-year-old. The next season, with Hoffman saving 42 games, the Padres won the NL West. Playing beach volleyball, Hoffman, with just one full season in the majors at that point, lunged to return a shot that was dropping just over the net. by Handedness.

Play-by-play data prior to 2002 was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted "It seems kind of silly to think about, but there were some fundamental things about throwing a Wiffle ball, trying to screw with the hitters in the backyard, whether it was my brothers or friends, that became a part of trying to learn the changeup with this new grip," Hoffman said. This hasn’t been an issue playing in spacious PETCO Park but moving to Miller Park next year expect to see some more balls leaving the yard.