The months leading up to Andrew Hoffmann’s debut with Triple-A Lehigh Valley were filled with genuine uncertainty. The right-handed reliever spent the summer battling a latissimus dorsi strain, an injury that eventually contributed to his designation for assignment by the Arizona Diamondbacks. So when Hoffmann dealt 1⅓ scoreless innings out of the IronPigs’ bullpen in Friday’s 4-1 win over Worcester — the very same day he was activated off the 60-day injured list — the 26-year-old had every reason to be pleased with how the night unfolded.
“It felt good to get back out there,” Hoffmann said. “Get the one plus and get my legs back underneath me.”
Breaking Down Andrew Hoffmann’s Scoreless Return
Hoffmann entered to start the seventh inning after Chuck King had tossed six innings of one-run baseball, opening his outing with a pair of strikeouts before closing the frame with a groundout for a clean 1-2-3 inning. His four-seam fastball sat at 94.8 mph and touched as high as 95 mph during the appearance — encouraging velocity numbers for a pitcher just returning from a significant injury layoff.
Sent back out for the eighth, Hoffmann needed just two pitches to retire Worcester’s leadoff hitter before issuing a six-pitch walk that prompted his exit in favor of reliever Kirby Snead. Snead retired the next two WooSox batters to keep Hoffmann’s scoreless line intact. Of his 22 total pitches on the night, Hoffmann threw 11 four-seam fastballs, nine changeups, and just two sliders — a deliberate approach he explained after the game.
“I used the slider as kind of a ‘show me’ pitch earlier this year,” Hoffmann said. “I got in the habit of overusing it, where it wasn’t always my best pitch. That made me get back to the fastball and changeup, which was kind of what made me who I am.”
From a 12th-Round Pick to the Big Leagues: Andrew Hoffmann’s Path
Hoffmann’s journey to this comeback outing has been a long and winding one. Originally selected by the Atlanta Braves in the 12th round (367th overall) of the 2021 MLB Draft out of the University of Illinois, Hoffmann is a Joliet, Illinois native who also spent time at John A. Logan College and Oakland University before landing at Illinois. He showed real early promise in Atlanta’s system, posting an excellent 2.36 ERA with 90 strikeouts across 80 innings for High-A Rome in 2022.
Just months later, on July 11, 2022, the Braves traded Hoffmann, along with outfielder Drew Waters and infielder CJ Alexander, to the Kansas City Royals in exchange for the 35th overall pick in that year’s draft. Hoffmann eventually made his long-awaited MLB debut with Kansas City on May 30, 2025, tossing two scoreless innings with four strikeouts against Detroit.
Andrew Hoffmann’s Rocky 2025 and 2026 Seasons
Hoffmann’s time with the Royals was brief. After posting a 3.86 ERA across three appearances for Kansas City, he was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for veteran outfielder Randal Grichuk ahead of last year’s trade deadline. The change of scenery didn’t produce immediate results — Hoffmann struggled to a 7.36 ERA over eight relief outings for Arizona down the stretch in 2025.
The 2026 season didn’t start much better. Hoffmann’s ERA ballooned to 7.71 after a disastrous April 28 outing against the Milwaukee Brewers in which he allowed eight runs while recording just a single out. He was quickly optioned to Triple-A Reno, where he posted a 6.08 ERA across 13⅓ innings before running into the biggest setback of his career: a strained lat that landed him on the 7-day injured list on June 9, and the 60-day injured list roughly a month later.
Andrew Hoffmann Opens Up About the Mental Toll of a Long Injury
Hoffmann didn’t sugarcoat how difficult the recovery process was, both physically and mentally. “It sucked getting hurt early June and having the calendar say, ‘hey, you’re going to be back the [last] two weeks of the year,'” Hoffmann said, describing the rehab process as monotonous. “I had to prepare for that, like this year you’re going to finish, no matter how many outings it is, and make the best of the last 10 days.”
How Andrew Hoffmann Ended Up With the Phillies
As it turned out, those final two weeks wouldn’t come with the Diamondbacks organization at all. Arizona designated Hoffmann for assignment on August 17, and because he was on the minor-league injured list at the time, the Diamondbacks were only able to place him on release waivers rather than trade him outright. The Philadelphia Phillies claimed him just three days later, immediately optioning him to Triple-A Lehigh Valley to continue his rehab within a new organization. To make room on their 40-man roster, Philadelphia recalled infielder/outfielder Félix Reyes from Lehigh Valley and placed him on the 60-day injured list with a fractured wrist.
Hoffmann made one rehab appearance for Low-A Clearwater on September 4, tossing a clean 1-2-3 scoreless inning, which was enough to earn him the green light to return to a Triple-A mound for the first time in three months.
Why Andrew Hoffmann’s Debut With the Phillies Organization Matters
For a pitcher who has now bounced between three organizations in the span of just over a year — the Royals, the Diamondbacks, and now the Phillies — while battling both performance struggles and a serious injury, Friday’s scoreless outing represents more than just a solid line in a box score. Hoffmann acknowledged as much afterward, contrasting the relief of actually playing baseball again with the tedious, day-to-day structure of rehab. “Feels good being in the clubhouse, being out of rehab and the monotonous process of ‘hey, you’re gonna do this today, and then this on Tuesday, this on Wednesday,'” Hoffmann said. “Like, ‘hey, play baseball now.'”
What’s Next for Andrew Hoffmann
Hoffmann will get additional opportunities to build on Friday’s performance during the IronPigs’ final series of the 2026 season, a six-game road trip to Syracuse to close out the year. With his fastball touching 95 mph in his first appearance back and a clear plan to lean on his best two pitches the four-seam fastball and changeup — rather than overusing his slider, Hoffmann appears to understand exactly what needs to happen for him to climb back to the big leagues. Whether that path leads back to Philadelphia’s active roster in 2027 remains to be seen, but for a pitcher who has already overcome a difficult injury and multiple organizational changes in the span of one season, Friday’s scoreless debut for Lehigh Valley was an encouraging first step in the right direction.
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