JAMES BAIRD / Union-Tribune
Trevor Hoffman, above, comes in for the save against the Mets.
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DENVER – Trevor Hoffman began his baseball career as a minor league shortstop. Not skilled enough for that job, he became a major league reliever, largely because he chucked fastballs by hitters.
When his fastball lost some steam nearly a decade ago, Hoffman crafted a change-up that, aside from wrenching the backs of hitters, made the relief ace the most consistent door-slammer of his era.
Hoffman's latest incarnation, though impressive, merely is a continuation of the same theme. Though pain in his right shoulder twice sent him to a surgeon's table and denied him a save chance for 17 months, Hoffman, now 36, merged back into the fast lane. He has cashed in 11 of 12 save chances and posted a 1.80 ERA going into the Padres' game today against the Colorado Rockies.
His contemporaries are too impressed with Hoffman to be impressed by his comeback.
"It doesn't surprise me," said Philadelphia Phillies reliever Tim Worrell. As a Padres set-up reliever in 1996, Worrell saw Hoffman, one year removed from shoulder surgery to repair torn cartilage, save the final three games at Dodger Stadium to seal the team's first division title since 1984.
"Just from having played with him, I know the guy's career has changed so much," Worrell said. "His style of pitching has changed, and he's just adapted and done whatever it takes to keep getting guys out. A lot of it's his work ethic and routine, which keeps him healthy. Even though he had the shoulder problems, it keeps him throwing the ball."
Phillies relief ace Billy Wagner said Hoffman's mentality allows him to flourish, no matter the challenges.
"I have talked to Hoffy for nine years now," Wagner said. "I've learned from how he goes about getting ready for games, what he looks at on his hitters and what he's thinking about. If you're going to be a closer, why not learn from the best?"
What did Wagner glean from Hoffman?
"That he's as screwed up as I am," the left-hander said with a laugh.
Goofiness has its advantages in a job that can savage even the mentally strong.
If a closer fails, he must bear the emotional brunt of having wrecked the work created by many teammates.
Hoffman has succeeded on 89 percent of his career save chances, second only to Eric Gagne among active closers with more than 100 saves, but he said even he could feel the pressure on April 8.
He inherited a 1-0 lead mostly through the work of San Diego native David Wells, who shut out the San Francisco Giants for seven innings in his Padres debut. Though Hoffman had worked nine games the previous September, this was his first save chance since September 2002, when the shoulder pain shut him down. And he was working the first official game at Petco Park.
"I was a little nervous," he said, adding with a laugh, " . . . It couldn't have been any worse scenario if you asked me.
"It would have been nice to have a three-run lead. I had come back after a year and half out of the closer's role and it was a little nerve-wracking."
Anticipating fastballs on the first pitch, the Giants belted three of them for hits that scored two runners and ruined the save chance.
The Padres came back to win the game. More important, Hoffman would come back to display the adaptive skills that might put him in the Hall of Fame.
In the next game, Hoffman again found trouble, allowing two hits and then walking J.T. Snow to load the bases.
A poker-faced Hoffman stepped off the rubber, a calculated form of don't-let-'em-see-you-sweat body control that Wagner said he's learned from Hoffman. Waiting to bat was Michael Tucker, who far prefers fastballs. Hoffman replied with three change-ups. Tucker missed them all badly. Game over.
Starting with that strikeout, Hoffman became the Hoffman of recent vintage. Not only that, he showed a tad more speed on his fastball, which he attributes to subtle refinements by pitching coach Darren Balsley and to the surgical hiatus in which he strengthened his arm.
He hasn't issued a walk since putting Snow on base to bring up Tucker. The strikeout began a run of 12 1/3 scoreless innings that ended with a meaningless run by the Phillies on Saturday. In those 12 1/3 innings, Hoffman converted all 11 save chances and threw only 145 pitches, efficiency the likes of which kept him fresh in summers past.
"It's just a matter of getting comfortable and trusting your stuff," Hoffman said. "You're always going to wonder over that six-month period that's off whether you're going to be able to come back and get people out. That's kind of what it was.
"I'm still going to have to throw my fastball to make other things effective. But if it means starting off a guy with a change-up and putting a question mark in their mind, and whoever's on deck watching, so be it."
Hoffman still gets many questions about his right shoulder (exams leading up to the rotator-cuff and clavicle surgeries between the 2002 and 2003 seasons revealed a 20 percent tear in the rotator cuff, not unusual for a pitcher in his 30s).
"Hopefully, if we stay healthy, it's not a question I need to continue to answer," he said.
