Philadelphia Phillies: Rhys Hoskins hitting 30th home run positive sign for future

Despite losing another series to the New York Mets, the Philadelphia Phillies should at least be pleased with Rhys Hoskins hitting his 30th home run of the 2018 season.

Frustration doesn’t even begin to describe the inconsistent play by the Philadelphia Phillies over the last month when seeing how the team hasn’t won a series since the beginning of August when facing the Miami Marlins.

Even more frustrating, failing to win a single series in over a month has resulted in the Phillies digging themselves in a little bit of a hole when it comes to earning a playoff spot in the National League, whether it’s from earning a Wild Card spot or winning the NL East.

One again, Sunday’s 6-4 loss to the New York Mets was filled with plenty of frustration since Philadelphia was in position once again to finally win a series. But if they were to take home one positive factor from the outing, it would be Rhys Hoskins continuing to make a name for himself as a power hitter.

Right away in the first inning, Hoskins hit a two-run home run off Corey Oswalt to give the Phillies an early 2-0 lead, although everything went downhill from there. And while it was disappointing to see the overall results of the game, it was the individual accomplishment by Hoskins that has Philadelphia even more excited over what the future holds.

Heading into his first full season with the team, expectations were high for Hoskins after the outfielder hit 18 home runs in 50 games during the 2017 season, mainly because of how desperate this squad has been for some power hitting over the years.

While there have been plenty of times throughout the regular season this year in which it’s been frustrating to watch Hoskins, watching the 25-year-old crush his 30th home run on Sunday was quite the accomplishment for the Phillies star.

Based off his impact from the previous two seasons, Hoskins seems to be the kind of individual that’s only going to continue getting better with experience, and if all goes well, this is only the beginning of what seems like will be a stellar career.

Of course, if Hoskins were to end the season on a positive note over these final few weeks to help Philadelphia make one final push for the playoffs, this would be the most important factor of all.

Earning one of the spots by winning the division or a Wild Card berth won’t be easy, but crazier things have taken place in baseball this time of year, meaning the Phillies shouldn’t be ruled out just yet.

Either way, even if Hoskins and the Phillies fell shy of the playoffs, at least the team has been performing better overall this year than originally expected, and can use the 2018 season as a learning experience to improve in 2019.