The Colorado Rockies made news Friday afternoon, announcing that they had optioned starting pitcher Jeff Hoffman and infielder Ryan McMahon to Triple-A Albuquerque. In corresponding moves, relief pitcher Scott Oberg and outfielder Mike Tauchman were recalled.
Hoffman, 24, was the feature player in the trade that sent former Rockies poster child Troy Tulowitzki north of the border.
Hoffman has been mostly solid at the Major League level this season; however, since the All-Star break, he’s faltered with opponents hitting .315 off him to pair with and ERA of 7.13. He’s surrendered eight runs, five via home run, in his last two starts.
With six weeks remaining in the regular season, and a possible postseason berth on the horizon, Hoffman is already nearing a career high in innings pitched. Between the Rockies and Albuquerque, Hoffman has logged 135.2 innings this season. He’s 90 percent of the way to his career high of 150, reached last year between those same two clubs.
Hoffman is the latest of the Rockies’ young arms to receive a respite this season. Jon Gray, Kyle Freeland, German Marquez and Antonio Senzatela have each gone through similar stretches in which they were either optioned, placed on the DL, or skipped in the rotation to help keep them fresh for the rest of the season.
“I think it works a couple different factors,” Manager Bud Black said ahead of Friday’s series opener versus the Milwaukee Brewers. “It’s a good break for Jeff, I think, physically. As I told him, he will be able to exhale now for a couple weeks. We are going to give him a little bit of a break on the pitching side.”
Black said Hoffman wouldn’t pitch over the next five or six days at the least. The plan is to integrate Hoffman into the rotation down in Triple-A following the rest period.
“He’s been going at it pretty hard since his return. I think this break will be good for him,” Black said. “Just in general. You look at pre All-Star game, post All-Star game. What we saw, just from the pitching side. From our critical eye, and just knowing our players, I think it was time for him to take a little step back and for us to maybe get somebody else in the rotation. But this happens, this is part of being a young pitcher.”
With Hoffman out of the rotation for the time being, Black said Senzatela could be a potential replacement. Other presumed candidates include long relief man Chris Rusin and recently converted reliever Tyler Chatwood.
