The Twins made Jeff Hoffman one of their more meaningful bullpen additions at the trade deadline, and the brief sample in Minnesota gave a clear glimpse of why they went after him.
Over 18 innings, Hoffman delivered a 2.50 ERA and 2.43 FIP, giving up just nine hits while punching out 27 hitters. The downside was the 12 walks, a familiar issue for a pitcher whose command has long been part of the conversation. Even so, the raw arm talent was hard to miss, and that’s why he looks like the best candidate to get the first shot at Minnesota’s closer job in 2027.
The stuff backs it up. Hoffman finished with strikeout, whiff and chase rates all in the 98th percentile or better among MLB pitchers.
That’s the kind of profile teams want at the back of the bullpen, and his arsenal gives him more than one way to win at-bats. His slider stood out in a big way, drawing whiffs on more than 50% of swings last season while accounting for just under half of his usage.
That’s filthy territory.
His four-seam fastball is no slouch either. It has more than 16 inches of rise and nearly 14 inches of tail, and it earned a Stuff+ grade of 115.
That number topped Joe Ryan’s four-seam fastball, which has been widely regarded as one of the better four-seamers in the league. Add in a splitter with a strong movement profile, and Hoffman gives Minnesota a legitimate three-pitch mix when everything is working.
The problem, as it has been throughout his 11-year MLB career, is the strike zone. Hoffman’s walk rate climbed to 15.6% with the Twins, a number that is simply too high for a pitcher expected to handle consistent late-inning leverage.
His career walk rate sits around 10%, which is much easier to live with when paired with his ability to miss bats. If he can keep the strikeouts north of 30% and the walks near that career mark, the fit makes a lot more sense.
If the walks drift toward 16%, that becomes a tougher sell.
Minnesota’s bullpen wasn’t exactly a model of control across the board, either. Yoendrys Gómez finished with a walk rate north of 13%, which was higher than Hoffman’s season-long mark of 10.3%.
Andrew Morris was better at 8.4%, though he didn’t produce the same overall results as Hoffman. The larger takeaway is that the Twins still need more depth in the bullpen, especially if they want to avoid leaning too hard on the same group again.
Hoffman’s stuff gives him a chance to survive some of those command hiccups, but only if he gets closer to what he’s shown in the past.
There’s also the question of how much Minnesota plans to spend. The Twins could try to fix the bullpen by bringing in more established late-inning arms, and there should be options available if they choose that route. If a salary floor comes into play, relief pitching would be a natural area for them to invest while addressing a clear roster need.
Even so, Hoffman has financial and practical appeal. Minnesota owes him more than $7 million of his $11 million contract next season, which already puts him in lower-end closer territory.
The Twins should add bullpen help this winter, and ideally at least one of those additions would push for the ninth inning. But based on how this front office and ownership have operated, a major spending spree feels unlikely.
A more realistic path is a cluster of affordable arms brought in to compete and deepen the group.
That setup still leaves Hoffman in a strong spot for 2027. Unless the Twins uncover a young reliever who forces the issue or bring in a true top-tier closer, there probably won’t be one arm getting every save chance. Multiple ninth-inning options would actually make sense given Hoffman’s command volatility.
But there’s a difference between sharing the closing duties and handing someone the first call when the game is on the line. Hoffman has the track record, the underlying numbers and the power stuff to be the favorite when spring training opens, even if Minnesota keeps the door open for other options.
His short run with the Twins showed exactly what he can do at his best. If the walks come back down, he has every chance to become a dependable late-inning piece.
Minnesota still has plenty of bullpen work ahead, but Hoffman is a solid place to start. The Twins should keep adding arms this offseason, yet unless someone else clearly separates from the pack, Hoffman ought to enter 2027 as the frontrunner to close.
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