Does Rhys Hoskins have a future with the Philadelphia Phillies?

In a Philadelphia Phillies season that’s delivered frustratingly average results so far, first baseman Rhys Hoskins stands out as one of the most polarizing players on the team.

On one hand, Rhys paces the club with 16 home runs, and his 43 RBI also leads the team. He’s delivered a handful of notable performances, including a two-homer, six-RBI game last week.

There are flaws, of course, and they’re well documented.

After leading the league in walks in 2019, when he drew a base on balls in 16.5 percent of his plate appearances, Hoskins is now walking just 9.1 percent of the time so far in 2021. That’s a career-low in that department, and it’s happening while his strikeout rate has also reached a career-high, although it isn’t all too horrible compared with the rest of what Major League Baseball is doing. As a result, Hoskins has seen his on-base percentage drop to .305 this year, which just isn’t getting the job done.

Let’s not forget that Hoskins had elbow surgery last season, so he may still be making physical adjustments as we near the midpoint of this 2021 campaign. Maybe there’s another level for him to reach in the coming weeks or months. And we should all hope so, because all of his value on the diamond is tied to his ability to produce runs.

You see, Rhys Hoskins is an absolute butcher over at first base.

I’m sure he’s put the time in. I’m sure he “tries hard,” or whatever you want to say, and that the Phillies have worked with him sufficiently to shore things up. But the sad fact is that some players just never attain even an acceptable level in this area.

Things seem to be coming to a head in this area after Hoskins’ shortcomings were on display during the team’s weekend series in New York, with the heat really being turned up thanks to his comments after Saturday’s game that have some wondering if Hoskins has a “loser mentality” that shouldn’t even be around the club. Now, the real question as we go forward concerns whether or not Rhys Hoskins is long for the Phillies.

Circumstances may lead the Philadelphia Phillies to move on from Hoskins soon.

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As his salary continues to increase, and the club is forced to shell out more and more for what looks like a league-average first baseman who can’t defend his position, the Phillies could be in a difficult spot.

The best solution here would be if the National League finally started using the Designated Hitter full time, allowing Hoskins to occupy that spot while Alec Bohm slides over to first base permanently. Bohm has issues too, but at least he offers a bit of a blank canvas and a chance to grow into a position where he can provide neutral defense instead of being a statistical black hole like Hoskins is.

Failing that, the Phillies will need to decide if they can truly continue to trot out a defensive arrangement that includes Hoskins at first and an erratic Bohm at third. The answer, if they are at all serious about contending, is a resounding “NO.”

The Phillies, as currently constructed, are too flawed to be giving away outs and runs at their current rate, meaning that a Hoskins/Bohm decision looms over the franchise in the very near future. And Hoskins would surely lose out in that competition, given the team’s draft investment and cost control over Bohm.

We could very well be seeing Rhys Hoskins’ final season in Phillies pinstripes, failing an offensive breakout that vaults him into the upper tier of slugging first basemen and/or the NL finally deciding to implement the DH.

For a team already shelling out more than $20 million per season for each of Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto, and Zack Wheeler on long-term contracts, I wouldn’t expect the Phillies to be too thrilled to have to start paying eight figures to a player like Rhys Hoskins, one who brings some positives to the table but whose skill set does not distinguish him from many other players in the league.

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As usual, you can blame the Phillies for failing to produce enough homegrown, cheap talent so that players like Hoskins won’t seem like a burden, either financially or performance-wise. But here we are yet again, and Rhys Hoskins figures to be nearing the end of his tenure with the Phillies unless some part of the equation changes soon.

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