The Phillies are largely running it back with their bullpen. These relievers could be key to its success.

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Jeff Hoffman threw 24 pitches, 11 for strikes, and didn’t complete his inning in a triple-A relief appearance last April 18. After the game, he was given an unusual choice.

Stay in Lehigh Valley, or go to Philadelphia for one day and face Bryce Harper?

“Oh, I could have said, ‘No, I’m here to pitch in games,’ ” Hoffman said Saturday. “It was the middle of my season. But it felt like it was a good opportunity to fill in some missed time that I didn’t have [after signing with the Phillies on March 31]. I didn’t know the staff here. I had never thrown in front of them, never shown my competitive side. So we felt like it was a good opportunity to do that.”

» READ MORE: How do the Phillies chase a World Series title, and long-term winning? Follow the money.

It changed Hoffman’s career.

OK, that’s overly simplistic. Even after looking impressive in an April 21 session against Harper, who was rehabbing from Tommy John elbow surgery, Hoffman still had to leverage the opt-out clause in his minor-league contract into a call-up with the Phillies. And then the 31-year-old former Blue Jays first-round pick needed to pitch well enough to stick around.

As it turned out, Hoffman did better than that. He posted a 2.41 ERA, struck out 69 batters in 52⅓ innings, and excelled in getting out of other pitchers’ jams. He was the Phillies’ most consistent reliever, and that’s why, 12 months after getting released by the Twins and almost signing to pitch in Japan, he has a seat reserved in the bullpen.

“My whole offseason, it was kind of weird for me to know that I had a spot,” Hoffman said. “We worked on a lot of good things and felt like those were the areas that can help me continue to get better. But yeah, I mean, who knows how this year’s going to unfold?”

Exactly. And that’s life with relievers. A manager looks around in spring training and expects to roll with what he has. By the playoffs, his most trusted righties wind up coming from another organization (Hoffman) and the low minors (Orion Kerkering). The best-laid plans in April often are scrapped by August.

Last season, the Phillies’ bullpen ranked seventh in the majors with a 3.58 ERA. They subtracted closer Craig Kimbrel, who signed with the Orioles, and tried to add free-agent righties Jordan Hicks and Robert Stephenson, who wound up instead with the Giants and Angels, respectively.

And so, as with most of the roster, they’re running it back, other than slotting Kerkering into Kimbrel’s spot. But there’s more variance in a bullpen that any other position, and three relievers, in particular, could help swing the pendulum from one extreme to the other.

Let’s take them one by one:

» READ MORE: Kyle Schwarber had a ‘weird’ 2023 season. Here’s what the Phillies slugger wants to change.

For everything that Hoffman did well last season, nothing topped this: holding opponents to a .131 average and .197 slugging with runners in scoring position. It’s why Thomson called on him to clean up a mess.

Harper gave him a nickname: Garbage Man.

“For a [relief] pitcher to be able to do that, we don’t get many chances to impact a game like that,” Hoffman said. “That’s like your Game 6 moment. ‘This is how I can best affect this game. I can hold this here. I can give our guys a chance to get back in and score.’ ”

» READ MORE: The Phillies are making big strides on defense, and it could make a big difference

Hoffman didn’t exactly come out of nowhere with the Phillies. He had a 3.83 ERA in 35 appearances in 2022 for the Reds after struggling but gaining experience early in his career with the Rockies.

But he was a revelation last season. And now, the central question he’s facing is whether he can do it again.

“My whole offseason, it was kind of weird for me to know that I had a spot, so it was one of those things where I was like, ‘I can’t lose this fire,’ ” Hoffman said. “Don’t get me wrong: I’d love a clean inning every once in a while. But no, that’s part of what makes me good, if I can harness that and take it out into a ballgame with guys on base and really try to change the course of the game.”

Going into last season, Kimbrel led Phillies relievers in career saves, and last May, he became the eighth pitcher in history to reach 400.

But who was second?

Soto, by a nice margin over Seranthony Domínguez and José Alvarado.

When the Phillies acquired Soto in a January 2023 trade with the Tigers, they viewed him similarly to Alvarado, a hard-throwing lefty who could become dominant if only he could harness his command. And for the most part, he did, lowering his walk rate to 8.8% from 13.1% in four seasons in Detroit.

» READ MORE: Phillies’ trust in Cristopher Sánchez endures even with star pitchers still on the market

But Soto got off to a slow start after arriving late to spring training because of visa issues. He outperformed his final numbers, with five outings of three or more runs inflating a 4.62 ERA. But he also was behind Alvarado, Kimbrel, and eventually Hoffman and Kerkering in the pecking order of high-leverage relievers.

“I felt great with last season,” Soto said through a team interpreter. “Maybe the ERA didn’t show my performance as expected, but I got better in other stats.”

It wouldn’t crazy, though, to bet on Soto to reemerge as a ninth-inning option.

“I’m being more focused now,” he said. “There were only five or six appearances in which I did [something] wrong. Whenever I go to pitch and we get that second out, just try and end it and be focused whenever we had runners on base so we can end those performances on a good note.”

Remember when Domínguez made his major-league debut in 2018? He was a sensation, throwing in the upper 90s and racking up strikeouts.

He had the look of a future closer.

But Domínguez has been hampered by injuries, including Tommy John surgery in 2020 and a triceps strain in 2022. And although he still averaged 97.5 mph on his fastball last season, he didn’t get away with making mistakes. He allowed three homers on fastballs after allowing a total of five before last year.

» READ MORE: Zack Wheeler wanted fewer years in his new deal. What it means for him and the Phillies’ ‘championship window.’

Maybe Domínguez was falling behind in the count too often. Maybe he was overthinking things. Maybe he struggled with confidence.

But when the Phillies stood pat after Hicks chose an opportunity to start with the Giants and Stephenson preferred to stay in Southern California, they demonstrated confidence that Domínguez can join Hoffman and Kerkering in giving Thomson right-handed options in the late innings.

“There’s a ton of belief in our bullpen in what we can do,” Hoffman said. “You look down the line, and there’s all these guys with successful closing experience, not just like filled in for a little bit. Soto was doing it for a while; Ser did it for a while. I think they really believe in the pieces that we have.”