ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The months leading up to Andrew Hoffmann’s debut Triple-A Lehigh Valley were filled with uncertainty as the right-handed pitcher battled through a latissimus dorsi strain leading up to his designation for assignment.
So when he dealt 1 1/3 scoreless innings out of the IronPigs’ bullpen in Friday’s 4-1 win over Worcester — the same day he was activated off the 60-day injured list — the 26-year-old had a lot to be pleased about.
“It felt good to get back out there,” Hoffmann said. “Get the one plus and get my legs back underneath me.”
Hoffmann came out to start the seventh after six innings of one-run baseball from Chuck King, opening with a pair of strikeouts before a groundout for a 1-2-3 frame. His four-seam fastball opened up at 94.8 mph and peaked at 95 mph within the inning.
Trotting back out for the eighth, Hoffmann put away Worcester’s leadoff batter on two pitches, but was pulled for Kirby Snead after allowing a six-pitch walk. Snead proceeded to retire the next two WooSox batters to keep Hoffmann’s line intact.
Of Hoffmann’s 22 pitches, he threw 11 four-seam fastballs, nine changeups and two sliders. He noted he wanted to keep his arsenal light in his return, and called the four-seam and changeup his “bread and butter.”
“I used the slider as kind of a ‘show me’ pitch earlier this year,” he 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.”
A 2021 MLB draft selection of the Atlanta Braves, Hoffmann got his first big league experience in 2025 between the Royals and Diamondbacks. After recording a 3.86 in three appearances for Kansas City, he was traded to Arizona for Randal Grichuk ahead of last year’s trade deadline, where he struggled to a 7.36 ERA in eight relief outings.
Hoffmann’s ERA jumped to 7.71 after an eight-run outing on April 28 against the Brewers where he recorded only one out. He was shortly optioned to Triple-A Reno, where he carried a 6.08 ERA through 13 1/3 innings before facing the season’s biggest setback yet. A strained lat slotted him on the 7-day injured list on June 9, and he hit the 60-day list a month later.
“It sucked getting hurt early June and having the calendar say, ‘hey, you’re going to be back the two weeks of the year,” said Hoffmann, who described the recovery process as being 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.”
Those last two weeks would ultimately not be for the Diamondbacks. Arizona DFA’d him on Aug. 17, and the Phillies claimed him on waivers three days later and optioned him to Lehigh Valley. Hoffmann made one rehab appearance on Sept. 4 for Low-A Clearwater, dealing a 1-2-3 scoreless inning, and was given the green light to return to a Triple-A mound for the first time in three months.
“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.’”
Hoffmann will get more chances to make up for lost time during the IronPigs’ final series of the 2026 season, a six-game road trip to Syracuse.
Pigs homer four times
The IronPigs held a pregame ceremony honoring first responders, veterans and active duty members Friday, which marked the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Both teams remained scoreless before King allowed the sole WooSox run on a fifth-inning double. He returned for the sixth and retired Worcester in order, ending his day at one run allowed on five hits and a walk with two strikeouts.
King, who left the mound with the IronPigs still down 1-0, was suddenly put in line for the win in the bottom of the frame with a solo shots from Otto Kemp (16th of the year) and Keaton Anthony (10th of the year). Payton Henry (seventh of the year) and Gabriel Rincones Jr. (fourth of the year) followed suit in the bottom of the seventh, and Hoffman and Snead shut the WooSox lineup down the rest of the way for the win.
