Looking Back at Arizona Legend Trevor Hoffman

This past season, Arizona was led by Mason White and Brendan Summerhill, who helped get the team back to Omaha for the first time since the 2021 season. And the team is led by head coach Chip Hale, who played at Arizona in college and is now the leader at the helm.

Arizona is one of the major powerhouses in college baseball with 44 NCAA Tournament appearances, six Super Regionals, 19 College World Series appearances and four National titles.

With a rich history of success, Arizona has been able to put countless players into the MLB Draft with 22 going in the first round. Plus, many of the overall draft picks from the UA have made it to the MLB level.

Players mean everything to a program, it is the heartbeat that drives the success. Not only have they succeeded in Tucson, but many have gone on to have tremendous playing and coaching careers at the Major League level.

One of the most successful players in the history of Arizona baseball is none other than Hall of Fame relief pitcher Trevor Hoffman, who is considered one of the greatest closers in the history of the game.

Oddly enough, Hoffman wasn’t a pitcher while with Arizona. He played shortstop where in 1988 and 1989 he hit .371 and was well-known for his glove as a defensive stud.

At the Major League level is where Hoffman became a pitcher and cemented himself as one of the greatest closers of all time with his devastating changeup.

Hoffman spent 18 years in the league playing for the Marlins, Brewers and Padres posting a career 2.87 era in 1,089 ⅓ innings of work in 10,035 games played.

Most of Hoffman’s career was spent in San Diego as thee premier closer in the national league where he made the bell intro to the song “Hell’s Bells” one of the most feared sounds in baseball.

You could argue the most high pressured role in the game is the closer role, it's something not every pitcher can do. Well, Hoffman was great at it, so great he recorded 601 saves, which is second all-time only behind New York Yankees’ legend Mariano Rivera.

Throughout Hoffman’s 18-year career, he was named an all-star seven times and led the NL in saves twice during the 1998 and 2006 seasons.

There have been a lot of great players to come out of Arizona but none are better than Hoffman, who took a unique path to his greatness.

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