Philadelphia Phillies: 3 candidates to replace Kyle Schwarber as the leadoff hitter

The Phillies starting lineup can turn to Rhys Hoskins for first ups

Finally, there’s our old pal Rhys Hoskins. One of the longer-tenured members of the Phillies, he has only had eight starts in his career as the leadoff hitter. Most of the time, he has batted second of fourth. Why not try him out at the very top?

When batting leadoff, Hoskins has hit only .194/.333/.258. The numbers are poor. But let’s look at another number.

Through his first 498 plate appearances leading off an inning, Hoskins is a .249/.366/.499 hitter. This is pretty good. Given more time as the leadoff hitter, maybe it begins to translate better into the leadoff spot itself.

Hoskins does not hit for average. What he does well is draw walks. In 2019, he drew a league-best 116. His .334 OBP last season was actually a career-low. Hoskins may be as untraditional of a leadoff hitter as Schwarber or Realmuto, but he is one of the best players on the roster at reaching first base.

Hoskins batting first has the same effect on the rest of the lineup as it would if the Phillies went with Segura or Realmuto. The balance of righties and lefties gets a little funkier when you want to keep Harper batting third. Again, the best way to resolve this is probably to just move Harper up one spot. Mixing lefties and righties isn’t the most necessary thing to do.

For sure, the Philadelphia Phillies need to move on from Schwarber batting first. It hasn’t work in the first week. They can return to it at points. In the interim, give each of these three a chance.