Toronto Blue Jays Prospect Jeff Hoffman Could Move Through the Minors Quickly

With the Toronto Blue Jays starting rotation currently in last place in the major leagues in ERA, the team desperately needs a top pitching prospect like Jeff Hoffman to move through the minor leagues quickly and reach the majors within the next couple of seasons.

Hoffman’s professional baseball career will begin on May 20, when he makes his first start for the Class A Advanced Dunedin Blue Jays.

With a fastball that topped out at 99-100 mph and an above-average curveball, Hoffman was being touted as one of the top pitchers heading into the 2014 MLB draft. But Tommy John surgery caused the right-hander’s stock to slip, allowing the Blue Jays to select him with the ninth overall pick in the draft.

Now, one year removed from the surgery, it looks like Hoffman has made a full recovery. According to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet, the 22-year-old has looked extremely sharp during his recent rehab outings.

Hoffman has been throwing his fastball in the 95-99 mph range while also flashing a plus curveball. His changeup and slider also have the potential to be above-average offerings in the future.

According to Davidi, the Blue Jays appear to feel that Hoffman is fully healthy at this point and have no plans or extra measures in place to protect him. At the same time, it’s worth noting that Toronto’s minor league complex is located in Dunedin. With Hoffman playing for the Dunedin Blue Jays, Toronto’s medical staff will be close on hand in case anything does happen.

Under general manager Alex Anthopoulos, the Blue Jays have been very aggressive in pushing top prospects toward the majors as quickly as possible.

Toronto selected Roberto Osuna and Miguel Castro—two prospects who were pitching in A ball last year—to be on the team’s Opening Day roster for the 2015 season. Other prospects such as Dalton Pompey, Daniel Norris and Devon Travis were also added to the roster despite having little experience at the upper levels of the minor leagues.

While Castro, Norris and Pompey have been sent back down to the minors since then, Osuna and Travis have turned into valuable contributors for the team.

Provided that he continues to stay healthy and shows no ill effects from his surgery, Hoffman could similarly move up Toronto’s depth chart very quickly with a strong performance in A ball this season.

Considering that he is a former collegiate player who already has a very advanced feel for pitching, it’s possible that we could see Hoffman move up to Double-A as soon as this season. That could open the door to Hoffman making it to the majors as soon as next season (likely as a midseason call-up) or the 2017 season at the latest.

With the Blue Jays getting top pitcher Marcus Stroman back next season, the addition of another potential front-line pitcher in Hoffman could just be what Toronto’s rotation needs to become competitive in the long term.

*All stats are from MLB.com.