Hoffman knows why he's been ineffective recently, Blue Jays hope he can solve the issue

This is not the start to the season that Jeff Hoffman had envisioned, especially after an up-and-down 2025 season. He’s posted a 7.71 ERA over 9.1 innings, but he has a 41.7 strikeout percentage, a career high by nearly eight percent. However, the Blue Jays' closer has a 12.5 walk percentage, and batters have a .310 batting average off of him.

These are alarming numbers, but a lot of Hoffman’s struggles can be attributed to being behind in the count. He’s only throwing a first-pitch strike 35.7 percent of the time. When a pitcher gets behind in the count, batters will shorten their zone and wait for the "perfect" pitch.

That hitting approach means hitters won’t chase pitches outside of the strike zone because Hoffman is struggling to get his offspeed pitches in the zone. He’s only throwing his slider for strikes 37.5 percent, and his splitter is worse for 22.2 percent. Falling behind in the count and being unable to locate his offspeed pitches is a recipe for disaster. Hitters can sit on the righty's fastball since that is the only pitch Hoffman can consistently throw for strikes.

Hoffman's inability to throw for strikes has cost the Blue Jays a couple of games

Hoffman has allowed six earned runs over his last two outings, with four of those coming in Saturday's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He came into the game in the bottom of the eighth inning in a tied 2-2 game. The Diamondbacks started the inning with back-to-back singles and a walk before Corbin Carroll hit a grand slam. Hoffman would get the next three hitters out, including two strikeouts.

Manager John Schneider has since backed Hoffman, saying, "If there's a situation to close out a game, I'll take Jeff Hoffman." It'll be interesting to see how much of a lease Hoffman has left. If Hoffman is replaced, Schneider has options. Louis Varland, Braydon Fisher, and Trevor Rogers each have an ERA below 0.90 in over 10 innings pitched.

Even though Hoffman has struggled, the offense hasn't helped the team win games either. In the 6-2 loss to the Diamondbacks, the Blue Jays had 11 singles, but only scored two runs. This was the 10th time in franchise history the team hit 11 or more singles, scored two or fewer runs, and lost. The Blue Jays' offense ranks 34th in runs but 16th in OPS, highlighting their struggle to get runners to cross the plate.

Although it's been a slow start, the beauty of baseball is that it’s a long season. There are still plenty of games left for Toronto to get back to their winning ways and have a deep postseason run again.

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