The Phillies announced that they have claimed right-hander Andrew Hoffmann off waivers from the Diamondbacks and optioned him to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He had been designated for assignment by Arizona earlier this week. As of yesterday, the transactions tracker at MLB.com listed him as released. With this claim, it now appears that he had been placed on release waivers but had not cleared. To open a 40-man spot for Hoffmann, the Phils recalled infielder/outfielder Félix Reyes and placed him on the 60-day injured list with a right wrist fracture.
Once a player has been designated for assignment, a team has three options for what to do next: trade, outright waivers or release waivers. A trade of Hoffmann wasn’t possible because the deadline passed a few weeks ago. Outright waivers were also not possible because Hoffmann was on the minor league injured list when he was designated for assignment. By rule, injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers. The Snakes therefore had only one option, which was release waivers.
Though Hoffmann is not currently healthy, the Phils decided to grab him from release waivers regardless. His major league numbers thus far aren’t great, as he has a 6.85 earned run average in 23 2/3 innings. The Phils are probably intrigued by last year’s minor league numbers. 2025 was his first year as a full-time reliever, as he had initially been working as a starter. The move seemed to pay off, as he finished last year with a 3.19 ERA in 42 1/3 Triple-A innings. He struck out 31.7% of batters faced, limited walks to a 7.2% pace and also induced grounders on 54.2% of balls in play.
He hasn’t been able to carry that over into 2026. He started the year in the big leagues but put up a 7.71 ERA in 11 2/3 innings and got sent to the minors. With Triple-A Reno, he had a 6.08 ERA in 13 1/3 innings before hitting the IL with an undisclosed injury. Though this year has been a challenge, the Phils presumably feel there’s a chance for Hoffmann to get back on track, either later this year or perhaps going forward. He has less than a year of service time and can be controlled until he gets his service clock up to six years. He will still have an option remaining after this season.
Reyes, 25, was just added to the 40-man roster in April. He hit .158/.158/.263 in 12 games before getting optioned back to the IronPigs. He hit the minor league injured list a few days ago. The Phils apparently weren’t expecting him back this year, so they have recalled him and put him on the 60-day IL in order to open a roster spot for the Hoffmann claim.
While he is surely not pleased to be injured, the silver lining for Reyes is he’ll get a few weeks of big league pay and service time between now and the end of the regular season. The IL goes away five days after the World Series, so Reyes and all other players on the 60-day IL will need to retake roster spots at that time.
Photo courtesy of Michael McLoone, Imagn Images
