Jays RP Jeff Hoffman: ALCS time in Toronto, Kerkering’s error

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Here comes Blue Jay's closer, Jeff Hoffman, joining us right now on FT Jeff, thanks for joining us busy times, and congrats on cracking the alcs. How has life been over the last forty eight hours to celebrate slash prepare.

00:00:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, just a little bit of recovery.

00:00:24
Speaker 3: We uh we got after a little bit on the on the flight home and the celebration and everything. So we got a good day of rest yesterday and back to workouts later today.

00:00:34
Speaker 4: Would you wish the flight was longer? Based on the good time that you guys were having. Sometimes the good times those flights like can we like, can we circle a little bit? I don't need no turbulence or nothing, but can we circle a little bit?

00:00:48
Speaker 2: Yeah?

00:00:49
Speaker 3: Those are the ones where you kind of hope that there's like a delay on the tarmac or whatever.

00:00:54
Speaker 2: But yeah, we uh we.

00:00:56
Speaker 3: We only had a quick one, but we got the most out of it and to get back to work tonight.

00:01:02
Speaker 5: Yeah, you kind of answered my question. I saw you, you know, forty eight hours ago, and you were kind of right at that tipping point of like you were still there, You're still coherent, but you came out saw your family. I know you went back inside, So I imagine you guys were getting after it. But I guess my question to you is, obviously you played in an amazing place in Philadelphia. I was on the other end of losing to you guys when I was the Atlanta Braves. I know how crazy that fan base can be, on how exciting they were. Take me back to Game one in Toronto. What that experience was like with the fans.

00:01:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, unbelievable, from the anthems all the way through the end. You know, it's the amazing you know, feeling what you feel when you play in Toronto. It's definitely a lively group and they all they all really kind of show their true colors and it's it's amazing to see and we feel the support every single night. And yeah, they come to play just like we do.

00:02:07
Speaker 4: Do you feel like the fans have kind of grown with this team? I mean, you weren't here the other years, but throughout this season, like when it start getting nice and they start opening the roof, that's when you guys started to kind of start playing better. And all of a sudden, now it's packed every single Friday night, stupid day game, Saturday, stupid day game, Sunday. Do you feel like they've grown with you guys, and then like that crescendo to the postseason.

00:02:35
Speaker 2: For sure.

00:02:35
Speaker 3: I mean as as the summer went on, we definitely saw that it seemed like every single night was a sellout. Yeah, we definitely you know, feed off that, and uh, it makes it fun to come to work and to go out and put put out a good product on the field. And that's what we are as a group, great product. And and we play together and we played a win every single night, and and we definitely feed off the the energy.

00:03:02
Speaker 2: Of the crowds.

00:03:06
Speaker 5: Yeah. I was gonna ask you. Playing against you in Philadelphia, had always felt like that team was really really tight, and I'm sure they were, but I get a sense that this is probably another level of tightness what we're experiencing with Toronto.

00:03:22
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:03:23
Speaker 3: Absolutely, I mean I I say it all the time.

00:03:26
Speaker 2: I mean, this is what it feels like.

00:03:28
Speaker 3: This is what it's supposed to feel like to play on a good team.

00:03:32
Speaker 2: This, Uh, you know, we're good because we're tight.

00:03:35
Speaker 3: We're you know, everybody spending the maximum amount of time in the clubhouse every single day, which is which is awesome to see, you know, even when we have down time, everybody's together. So uh, we we really matched together well as a group. And you know, if it feels it feels like we have you know what it takes to to do it all right.

00:03:59
Speaker 4: The post is a time when everything's amped up. When you close the game out and you looked over at the at the Yankees side of the dugout. How much of that is an emotion that comes out in the moment, And how much of that because then we saw that you guys played New York, New York after after my guy Schneider's speech, how much of that is like pre planned and talked about and give you emotion to win these huge games.

00:04:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's it's pure emotion, you know. I think it would be the same no matter who was on the other side. At the end of the day, you're the team that gets to move on and keep playing and that that, you know, means everything to us. So yeah, I mean all the New York, New York stuff, that's, uh, that's all great, But at the end of the day, I was just us kind of letting loose and you know, enjoying the moment.

00:04:59
Speaker 2: And you know, after that night, we kind of set our sights forward to next.

00:05:05
Speaker 4: All right, you got the last out of that game, and I have to I have to remember back to like catching the last out, or like meeting my pitcher part way, and I watched Kirk come out to you and you guys pounded whatever you guys did. If there's a moment when or when looking ahead when you close out the next series, do you feel like you could catch him if he jumps into your arms or do you want to jump into his arms and make him catch you.

00:05:32
Speaker 2: Nah, I want him doing the jump in. I got him, I got him.

00:05:35
Speaker 3: We're uh, we're really looking forward to that. And I hope there's a I hope there's the opportunity to do that, and uh yeah, I'll have to. Uh, I have to make sure I'm I'm getting primed up for that one.

00:05:48
Speaker 5: Yeah. I want to just kind of go back in time. Obviously drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays a couple of different stops, kind of just take me through this kind of full circle moment that you've had to be drafted by the Blue Jays in the first round, be traded, go on a couple other places throughout your career. Now coming back home to Toronto and now closing out games to allow your team to advance to the next round.

00:06:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's an amazing uh full circle when you think about it. You know, everything obviously happens for a reason and everything's gonna be uh hopefully good at the end of the day. But yeah, going through that time, I mean, obviously at that time, the Blue Jays were good, and I was really excited to be a part of that organ the organization at that time, and to see them go on and and you know, make some noise in the playoffs. That year was was tough. But you know, I I look back on that time as you know, that was you know, my development as a player, and I went and learned a lot of things, trying to pitch at high altitude and then moving on and trying to pitch in a small ballpark in Cincinnati and making my way to filling all that good stuff. So you know, none of that have happened if I didn't get traded out of here in the first place. And yeah, I'm really excited at that. We get this opportunity to bring something special back to the city of Toronto and back to Canada, and yeah, we have a bunch of guys in the clubhouse that are really excited to do that too. So we come to play every night with that in mind, and you know, we feel like we got a really good shot.

00:07:26
Speaker 4: Later on, we're going to ask you about picking up teammates, obviously with the kirkhating thing, but I want to first ask you about picking up your teammate Louis Varlin. The home run that he gave up as pictures as bullpen guys who have elite, ridiculous stuff, you've seen this guy the entire year. He's in your division, and for him to do that, what is y'all's reaction in the moment in the bullpen? Like whoa, how did you keep that fair? Or like afterwards when you guys were all talking, and does that change how you guys throw to a guy like that?

00:08:00
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, I think everybody, you know, everybody who has eyes saw that that was, you know, not a bad pitch.

00:08:07
Speaker 4: Uh.

00:08:08
Speaker 3: I think the underlying uh information that you get if you watch the whole series is we've kind of been doing that to him, uh, the entire series, pounding them in And obviously we knew we had we had the sliders. If you know if if we needed to get to that point, and I mean when you when you throw so many of the same location, same pitch to this to a guy like that, he is gonna, you know, make the adjustment.

00:08:33
Speaker 2: That's what makes him in the world.

00:08:37
Speaker 3: So yeah, it was just one of those things where it was bad timing for him to actually get to one. And you know, one hundred mile an hour fastball, you know, three balls in off the plate is is never really gonna hurt you except when it does. So you know, we kind of all, you know, told Louis that you know, that was just a blip in the radar and to go out the next day and and do exactly what he does, and he did that for US.

00:09:05
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00:09:37
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00:09:39
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00:10:00
Speaker 5: Yeah, speaking of stuff, you've always had the stuff. I stew in the box against you two years ago and knew you had closer stuff. Was there someone in that Philly bullpen when you were there that kind of almost kind of groomed you to get in that mindset of being able to close out games? And then what did you learn about yourself? You know, going from a seventh eighth inning guy to now having to be the guy at the back end of the bullpen?

00:10:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, uh, you know, Matt Strap was a big influence on me through my time in Philadelphia. I think, you know, my mentality, uh got some tweaking, and you know, I kind of learned a little bit better how to go about life in the bullpen, and and you know, just kind of kept the ball rolling and and tried to kind of stay right where I was get a little bit better each day. And yeah, and then this year getting the full time job kind of you know, I learned obviously the good and the bad, and you know, I wasn't as good as I wanted to be this year as as a from like a total total seasons perspective, I want to be a lot more consistent moving forward. But yeah, I learned a lot of things from Matt that I'll take with me kind of moving forward and and uh, you know, hopefully you know, put together more consistent outings moving forward.

00:11:27
Speaker 4: All right, Oh, Ryan Kirkran, I'm assuming you saw the play last night as a as a bullpen mat of his. What's your thought when you saw the play, what's your aftermath of it? And what's your feeling when you see that play yourself thinking about that play and how you would have handled it?

00:11:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, it's it's one of those things where you know, we've practiced that play hundreds of times spring train, throughout the season, and you know, he got an in between hot bobbled it and uh then at that time kind of felt like, I don't know, maybe he had a better shot at at the guy at home than he did.

00:12:15
Speaker 2: Uh turn and thrown the first.

00:12:18
Speaker 3: That play happens quick and kind of have to have your mind up beforehand. Uh what you're gonna do if there's a babble or something like that. And it's just a really you know, tough, tough way to go. And I love Orion, He's one of my one of my good buddies. And yeah, at some point I'll reach out to him and and see how he's doing. But uh, he's he's gonna be a great relief pitcher for a long time and and he's gonna be a really valuable player for a long time. And I think he's got a great head on his shoulders and he'll be able to kind of move past this at some point.

00:12:55
Speaker 4: What about Nick Castios And I say this because you were teammates with him. There's a video of him running, sprinting as hard as he can to the mound to be there for a Ryan Kirkring. Can you attest to that side of Nick Costianos? After about three days after he got eviscerated by Philly media for what he said about Philly fans.

00:13:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, Nick, Uh, Nick's a great person when it comes down to it, And uh, that's you know, kind of how I try to look at my teammates. I don't look at him as baseball players. I look a look at him as people. And there's a lot of good people in baseball and Nix one of them. And uh, I know exactly, you know what Nick was thinking in that moment, and it's on a human level, it's not you know, on a baseball level. And yeah, he did exactly what I would expect a lot of guys to do, and it's to put a hand, put your arm around a guy that's you know, a young kid, and and kind of thrown into the fire, zoomed through the system kind of a lot like you Savage, where you know, he was in low A at the start of the year and then all of a sudden he's pitching in the postseason later that year. Obviously, orian's a year, a year or two past that point now, but yeah, it's Nick being a leader, being a veteran guy, and a guy that you want in your corner.

00:14:27
Speaker 1: Hey, I want to ask about a current teammate in Vladdy Junior. So what did you witness from him in this last series? Aside from the great performance the tears on the field afterward, there's always the big storyline with you know, how he's got something extra against the Yankees.

00:14:45
Speaker 2: Did you see that? Did you feel that? Did you hear that.

00:14:50
Speaker 3: Vladdy Vladdie shows up to play every single night the same way, no matter who's on the other side. Now, I don't know exactly the history about him, him and the Yankees, but I know that he does. You know, he likes to play well against good teams and in big spots, and that's you know, kind of why he is who he is. He's, uh, he's the face of our franchise, and it's actually amazing to see guys like that step up in big moments and to kind of carry carry the team a little bit. Obviously, I know our offenses is outrageous right now, but Vlady is such a huge part of that right in the middle of it. And yeah, once again, great great person, Uh, extremely hard worker, and he loves to win. He wants to win and uh and we all feel that and we try to try to follow suit, all.

00:15:47
Speaker 4: Right, aren't you glad that you're wearing blue and not orange? Sometimes? Aren't you glad that you didn't pass your physical Yeah?

00:15:54
Speaker 2: A little bit, A little bit, I'd be on the couch right now.

00:15:59
Speaker 4: You'd been golfing, you be on the couch. And isn't that? Isn't that something? That's that It makes it a little bit sweeter, not vindicated, not that you're you're playing. You told us in spring training. You're like, ah, you know what, there's a little bit more And I can see that maybe pushing you. Am I right or wrong?

00:16:21
Speaker 2: I wanted to play well against them?

00:16:23
Speaker 4: Uh?

00:16:24
Speaker 3: Maybe a little bit more. Uh, But at the end of the day, I'm happy with uh. Without obviously how everything turned out. I feel like I I you know, me and my family ended up in a in an unbelievable place, an unbelievable organization that's top notch from from top to bottom.

00:16:41
Speaker 2: They take care of us really well.

00:16:44
Speaker 3: And yeah, I mean, who doesn't want to play meaningful baseball in October? You know I I I've been on the other side. I've been going home and you know, at the end of September and and this is much better, and yeah, we're excited about our opportunity and we're looking forward to the next series.

00:17:07
Speaker 1: Jeff, last one Baseballly question for you. Two thoughts, one on pitching side, one on hitting side. We had Eric Chavis on with us yesterday, former hitting coach for the Mets, and he was like, teams are gonna have to be more like the Jays. The pitching is just too nasty. You need more contact in your game. Of course, still need pop, but there's got to be a shift back to a little bit more contact. Do you agree after witnessing what you've seen so far from the Jays this season and on the pitching side, do you think that every I don't want to say young pitcher, because you gotta wait until the arms develop, but do you think that most pitchers should learn a splitter? Based on what we've seen from you, from Trey, from Kevin and others.

00:17:48
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, I mean I get to witness firsthand what our offense does every night, and we don't. We don't win in one way, we went in you know, countless ways. I think, Yeah, it's it's you're gonna have more success, I believe, uh, you know, clogging up the base pass, especially late in the season in October and stuff like that. You can't always depend on, you know, a guy hitting a two or a three run homer and kind of leading the way.

00:18:19
Speaker 2: Uh. And we we don't depend on that.

00:18:22
Speaker 3: We you know, we hit singles, we hit doubles, we we hit situationally. We got guys who understand the game and who understand what you're trying to do and what you're trying to accomplish. And that's why we are so proficient as an offense.

00:18:40
Speaker 2: I believe.

00:18:42
Speaker 3: So yeah, I mean, I you know, we we fink we match up with Milwaukee mid season and they it literally looked like we were looking in a mirror, and I was like, yeah, that's like, those are the hardest teams to beat because they they just keep coming at you and you know, two out RBIs and and.

00:19:03
Speaker 2: Oh two to oh two to three two walk.

00:19:06
Speaker 3: Home and clogging up the bases and and just kind of making stuff happen. And then on the splitter front, obviously like it's it's a really good pitch. It's a it's a great pitch because you can maintain your arm speed and your hand speed and and really tunnel it well off your fastball. And you see that with with Trey and and how much separation he creates, and how similar the ball looks coming out of his hand, and and then all of a sudden, ones on the on home plate and and ones at the top of the zone, you know, kind of blown by you. So, uh, it's a great pitch if you have the arsenal that can hold it. I'm not going to tell everybody to go out there and do it, because it's not gonna it's not going to be right for everyone. But if you are a guy where that pitch can tunnel well with your other ones, then absolutely it's it's gonna be one of the best pitches moving forward.

00:19:57
Speaker 1: It's fun pitch to watch. Your team's super fun to watch. Jet thanks for joining us, but we appreciate the stop by. Good luck the next round. Man, oh, thank you. Thanks for having me.

00:20:06
Speaker 2: Guys,