Categories: Features

Jeff Hoffman thrives in high leverage — because SEALs have taught him to breathe

Jeff Hoffman is one of the Phillies’ best relievers. (Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire)

ANAHEIM — Nick Castellanos and Johan Rojas had just provided perhaps the most thrilling moment of the Phillies’ young season and Jeff Hoffman had to calm down. So he channelled his inner SEAL.

“SEAL-type breathing” is a method the 31-year-old reliever employs before high-leverage outings, a tool he’s picked up from guest speakers — including Navy SEALs — over the course of his career. The goal is a low heart rate, because pitching is hard enough without one. It allows him to execute his game plan better.

When Hoffman is trying to close out a game or wriggle his way out of a dirty inning, he wants to fight one battle, and one battle only: the one against the hitter. Take himself out of the question, and the job is that much easier.

“I like to keep everything on my end as calm as possible,” Hoffman told Phillies Nation on Wednesday. “That way, the only external motivation you can get is from the hitter. I don’t like external motivation coming from all these different places. All of a sudden, everything spirals out of control.”

But calmness and low heart rates don’t exactly jibe with Hoffman’s particular role in the Phillies’ bullpen, and that’s becoming increasingly true.

He’s Rob Thomson’s favorite option in messy innings. Obscure stat warning: Hoffman ranks 21st out of 209 qualified relievers this season in gmLI — FanGraphs’ way of measuring the average leverage when a pitcher enters a game. His 1.78 in that category (with 1 the average) is tops on the team.

It’s backed by results. His 85.7% left-on-base percentage this season leads Phillies relievers, as does his 1.29 ERA, as does his 0.6 fWAR.

Thomson has also turned to Hoffman in save situations from time to time early this season, helping fill a role that hasn’t officially been filled this year. He blew the first two (though the first of those came in the sixth inning on April 1), but he’s converted the last two — including Tuesday.

It’s all the same to Hoffman, though. Breathe. Relax. Execute.

“I don’t really like to put a number on an inning, if that makes any sense,” Hoffman said.
“My game plan isn’t gonna change regardless of the situation. So I just go out and try to throw as many strikes as possible … Just try to drop a zero.”

If all you watch of Hoffman’s appearances is how he departs them, “low heart rate” may not exactly be the first descriptor that comes to mind. He’ll yell, shimmy, flick his wrists after recording big outs or tightroping out of murky situations. He wears his emotions on his sleeve. He knows it.

The key, though, is when. After the inning, he’ll let it loose. But during? He’s stone cold.

“A lot of guys like pitching with a high heart rate,” Hoffman said. “I show emotion, but usually I show emotion after the third out. Not during the actual inning.”

Hoffman is a competitor, and he’s human. His heart rate isn’t invincible to moments like the top of the ninth inning on Tuesday night. “My challenge,” Hoffman said, “is to get it back down in time to go out and actually start pitching.”

That’s where the breathing — the SEALs — comes into play.

“Obviously, they’re elite at what they do,” Hoffman said. “And we like to think that we’re elite at what we do. So, you know, trying to learn anything from any elite caliber athlete or whatever they’re doing can potentially help us.”

It worked on Tuesday. Hoffman retired the side on 13 pitches to close out the victory in a game that, 20 minutes before, it didn’t seem he’d enter at all. He’s been the Phillies’ most trusted reliever since he signed a minor-league deal with the organization at the end of last March.

His career has been a whirlwind. His role — roles, rather — are whirlwinds inherently.

Nothing a little SEAL-type breathing can’t fix.