Meeting the Newest Pittsburgh Pirate Logan Hoffman
The Pittsburgh Pirates continue talking with their 2020 MLB Draft class as they await the start of the shortened 2020 season. They already signed their 44th overall pick (Jared Jones) and their 7th overall pick (Nick Gonzales), and on Monday they added another member of the draft class. Right-handed pitcher Logan Hoffman signed with the Pirates yesterday, marking the third of their six draft picks to sign with the team. Hoffman had an interesting college career playing for three different teams in three years between the NCAA and the Cape Cod League. He was previously drafted during the 2019 MLB Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals, but greatly improved his draft stock in a shortened season and earned himself a higher draft pick.
Hoffman was a three-sport athlete at Muenster High School in Muenster, Saskatchewan, Canada. However, he didn't play the three sports you would think he would play as he was a hockey, baseball, and track and field star. While he was related to former NHL player Cliff Koroll, baseball was his number one passion. He helped lead Meunster High School to 100 wins in three seasons as the team's top starting pitcher. During his junior season, he led the Red Sox to the Saskatchewan Provincial Championship and a third-place national finish. He showed a good strikeout rate with 226 while walking just 43 batters in his four seasons.
Ever since he was young playing baseball was his dream and he would practice every day at the baseball diamond by his house. All that work would pay off as he moved to the United States and began his college baseball career at Colby Community College in Kansas. Hoffman jumped into the Trojans starting rotation right away during his freshman year and, although he saw his share of ups and downs, he set himself up as the Sunday starter in the rotation. He started his collegiate career coming out of the bullpen over his first four appearances before making the move to the starting rotation. He had success in those first four appearances and made the transition to the bullpen.
He finished his freshman season going 8-3 with a 4.94 ERA in 85.2 innings of work for the Trojans. After picking up three saves during his time in the bullpen, he continued to put up a strong strikeout rate setting down 102 batters in 85.1 innings of work. He led the team with four complete games that season and set himself up for success. He would come back as the team's number one starter the following season and Hoffman started to hear from Major League clubs. With his dreams of a professional career in baseball becoming a reality, Hoffman knew he had to kick his training into high gear.
He came back even stronger during his sophomore year at Colby Community College becoming the team's number one starter. He appeared in 17 games, making 15 starts, for the Trojans, and lowered his ERA down to 3.11 while going 8-4 in 89.2 innings of work. He stretched himself out even more and once again led the team with eight complete games during the season. He helped lead his team to the NJCAA Region VI playoffs during his sophomore season. He picked up the win in the game that clinched the playoff spot pitching eight innings allowing three earned runs while walking two and striking out five against Independence Community College.
When it came time for the 2019 MLB Draft, many people were expecting Hoffman's name to be called. He eventually was drafted in the 35th round by the St. Louis Cardinals and was one step closer to his dream. However, Hoffman decided not to settle and went back to Northwestern University to continue his collegiate career. He would head to the Cape Cod Baseball League to get ready for his junior year, and ended up flourishing with the Falmouth Commodores. He went 3-0 with a 3.38 ERA appearing mostly out of the Commodores bullpen while striking out 22 batters in 16 innings of work. He would be named a Cape Cod League All-Star that season and came into the Southland Conference ready to go.
Unfortunately, it would be a shortened season for Hoffman and the Demons, but he was still able to make his presence felt on the mound. In four starts with the Demons, Hoffman did not allow an earned run in 28 innings of work and was scored upon just three times throughout the season. He continued to show strong control with five walks and put up 38 strikeouts in 28 innings of work. Opponents had trouble catching up to his fastball and Hoffman only allowed 14 hits all season. While he didn't get to play out his entire Junior season, he did get the chance to raise his draft stock and he was receiving more attention from Major League clubs.
However, with a shortened MLB Draft, Hoffman was still questioning whether or not his name would be called. He ended up getting picked in the fifth round of the draft as part of a five pitcher draft class. For Hoffman, it was a big jump from being the 900th overall pick to the 138th overall pick and showed that all of his hard work paid off. General Manager Been Cherington released a statement saying "We are excited to add Logan to the Pirates organization. He performed well at every level of amateur baseball and has a strong combination of stuff, control, feel for pitching and competitiveness."
Now the question remains where will Hoffman go when Minor League baseball returns in 2021. It is very unlikely that the Pirates would put him on the taxi squad this season, so he probably will be looking ahead to next season. I project Hoffman to start in the rotation at either Low-A Greensboro or short-season West Virginia. He would get to face competition around his same skill set and it would test him to see how his stuff translates to pro ball. I don't think he will be quite ready for full-season baseball, given that his career-high for innings pitched in 89.2 innings of work.
Look for Hoffman to start with the West Virginia Black Bears, but move up to the Greensboro Grasshoppers by the end of the year. Right now, he projects as a starting pitcher and if he stays on his current path he should stay there for the rest of his career. The Pirates still have three of their draft picks still unsigned including #31 Carmen Mlodzonski, #79 Nick Garcia, and #108 Jack Hartman. The Pirates still have time to sign their draft picks with the deadline coming in just over a month on August 1st. The other member of the 2020 MLB Draft to sign with Pittsburgh was undrafted free agent Parker Brahms who signed last week.
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