Trevor Hoffman
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| San Diego Padres — No. 51 | |
| Relief Pitcher | |
| Bats: Right | Throws: Right |
| Major League Baseball debut | |
|---|---|
| April 6, 1993 for the Florida Marlins | |
| Selected MLB statistics (through 2006) |
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| Saves | 483 |
| Strikeouts | 965 |
| ERA | 2.71 |
| Former teams | |
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Trevor William Hoffman (October 13, 1967, Bellflower, California) is a relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who has played for the San Diego Padres since 1993. He bats and throws right-handed. He holds the all-time Major League save record with 483 total saves, after breaking the previous record held by Lee Smith, on September 24, 2006. Hoffman is considered to be one of the best closers in baseball history.
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[edit] Early life
When Hoffman was six weeks old, he had to have one of his kidneys removed because an arterial blockage had formed there. As a kid growing up near Anaheim, he wasn't allowed to play football or wrestle, but he played most other sports. He especially loved baseball because his brother Glenn, who was nine years older, became the shortstop for the Boston Red Sox when Trevor was 12. "I was the perfect age," Trevor says. "I'd hang around the clubhouse, wear his hat, his shoes, even though they were 10 sizes too big."
When he wasn't following Glenn, or his other brother, Greg, a high school basketball coach, he was going with his father, Ed, to California Angels games. For 15 years Ed Hoffman was the famous singing usher at Angels games. Before that, he sang with the Royal Guards, a troupe that performed all over the world. "We get our professionalism from him," Trevor says. "But none of us kids can carry a tune. It's pretty sad, because my father [who died in 1995] was great." Trevor's mother, Mikki, is a former ballerina who was born in England. "She says we get our athleticism from her," says Trevor.
Trevor Hoffman proposed to his wife, Tracy, a former Buffalo Bills cheerleader, during Super Bowl XXVII. They have three sons: Brody Burke, Quinn Eddie, and Wyatt Quade.
[edit] Career
Originally drafted by the Cincinnati Reds as a shortstop after leading the University of Arizona team in hitting in 1988 with a .371 batting average, 35 points better than teammate J.T. Snow in 1989, Hoffman was converted to a pitcher in 1991 after batting .212 with 23 RBI in 103 games while playing short and third for Single-A Charleston (then a Cincinnati Reds minor league affiliate). The move, suggested by Charleston manager Jim Lett, was so successful that in his first season on the mound, Hoffman threw a total of 47 2/3 innings at Cedar Rapids and at Double A Chattanooga, and had a 1.89 ERA and 75 strikeouts.
Hoffman proved to have such a live arm that he was taken by the Florida Marlins in the 1992 expansion draft and a year later was involved in the five-player trade that sent slugger Gary Sheffield from the San Diego Padres to Florida during the infamous 1993 fire sale. Hoffman is the only prospect acquired from the fire sale to develop into a legitimate star despite the Padres dumping players the caliber of Sheffield, Fred McGriff, Bruce Hurst, and Craig Lefferts among others.
Hoffman enters Padres home games with AC/DC's "Hells Bells" playing over the public address system.[1]
On May 6, 2005, Hoffman recorded his 400th save against the St. Louis Cardinals and became the third pitcher in Major League history to reach the milestone, following John Franco (424 saves) and Lee Smith (478 saves) (although Mariano Rivera has since passed the mark, as well). On August 24, 2005, Hoffman passed Franco for second place on the all-time saves list with #425 after the Padres beat the Houston Astros 7-4.
Hoffman was the losing pitcher in the 2006 All-Star Game, despite having two strikes with two outs on eventual MVP Michael Young.
August 20, 2006 marked Hoffman's 776th outing for the Padres, breaking the Pirates Elroy Face's major league record for most relief appearances with one club, according to the Elias Sports Bureau [2].
On September 24, 2006, Trevor became the all-time Major League saves leader by saving his 479th career game in a 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
[edit] Pitches
When Hoffman first came into the league he was a fireballer, throwing in the low to mid 90’s with a tight curveball. Hoffman’s repertoire now includes one of the game’s best changeups, a more modest four-seam fastball in the 84-88 MPH range, a slower cut fastball that moves in towards a left handed batter, and he even mixes in a slider and a curveball a handful of times a year for good measure. However, for all intents and purposes, Hoffman is a two-pitch pitcher, alternating between fastballs and changeups. It is the arm action on the change up and the way that the pitch drops just before it reaches the plate (almost as if someone was pulling on a string attached to the pitch) that has allowed Hoffman to be as successful as he has been over the years.
Trevor Hoffman learned the change up, which he actually throws with a palmball [3] grip instead of a circle changeup grip, from teammate Donnie Elliott during the 1994 player's strike and began using the pitch in 1995 when he did not have his best fastball because he was pitching most of the year with a torn rotator cuff. Hoffman opted to pitch through the pain and have surgery in the off-season rather than end his season early. He came back the following year to throw in the low 90's, with a tight curveball and that terrific changeup, which reportedly made his fastball look as if was going 110 mph. The key to the pitch, Hoffman explains in the September 11, 2006 edition of ESPN The Magazine, is how he pinches the seam of the ball with his thumb and index finger as he releases it. He throws the changeup with the arm speed used to throw a fastball, the hitter thinks it's a fastball, it looks like a fastball. But when the hitter starts to swing, the ball is still yards away from the plate. In this article, writer Buster Olney attributes Hoffman's initial loss of velocity and torn rotator cuff in 1995 to horsing around at Del Mar Beach near San Diego during the strike.
As recently as 1998, Trevor’s finest season when he finished second in Cy Young Award voting and seventh in MVP voting, he was throwing his fastball in the low 90’s. However, his velocity has dropped off in recent years. His velocity has actually improved since he had shoulder surgery that forced him to miss most of the 2003 season. Before that procedure, Hoffman’s fastball had slowed to the mid 80’s. Despite his diminished velocity, Hoffman’s strikeout numbers remained very good, striking out more than a batter per inning every season up to 2003 and striking out nearly that many in 2004 and 2005. The 2006 season, though, saw his strikeout numbers fall off noticeably.
[edit] Highlights
- 5-time All-Star (1998-2000, 2002, 2006)
- Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award (1998, 2006)
- National League Fireman of the Year Award (1998, 2006)
- Hutch Award (2004)
- TSN Reliever of the Year Award (1998)
- Led National League in saves (1998, 2006)
- Hold an MLB record with 8 consecutive seasons with 30 or more saves (1995-2002)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- ESPN (profile and daily updates)
- Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis
| Preceded by Jeff Shaw |
National League Rolaids Relief Man of the Year 1998 |
Succeeded by Billy Wagner |
| Preceded by Chad Cordero |
National League Rolaids Relief Man of the Year 2006 |
Succeeded by Reigning |
| Preceded by Lee Smith |
All-time Major League Saves Leader 2006 – present |
Incumbent |
| Preceded by John Smoltz |
Lou Gehrig Memorial Award 2006 – present |
Incumbent |
