Rhys Hoskins gave Philadelphia Phillies fans many moments to remember during his tenure with the organization, particularly in the postseason. I mean, who can forget the NLDS bat spike? It was a bit of a struggle for Hoskins last season in his first year away from Philadelphia, but this year, he's playing as well as he ever has in his career.
The 2024 campaign was always going to be a struggle to an extent for Hoskins, given the fact that he had missed the entire season prior with a torn ACL, but nobody really knew what to expect from him in 2025. In fact, the Milwaukee Brewers even contemplated trading him this past offseason after he exercising his $18 million player option.
It's a good thing that they didn't in hindsight, though, as his stock is soaring rapidly.
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Rhys Hoskins is playing as well as he ever has this season
The 32-year-old is slashing .300/.402/.500 with seven home runs and 27 RBI in 47 games played this season. His power has taken a bit of a dip following a 26-home run season in 2024, but he's never been this well-rounded as a hitter before. I mean, in his first seven seasons, Hoskins was a .238 hitter. Last season, he hit .214. Now, he's hitting .300. He's always drawn a ton of walks, but his 14-percent walk rate is his highest mark since 2020. He has gotten on base 40 percent of the time.
Instead of being mostly a three-true-outcome type of hitter, Hoskins, much like Pete Alonso with the New York Mets, is striking out less than he's accustomed to and is now getting on base more than he ever has.
With Bryce Harper at first base and Kyle Schwarber at DH, it's not as if the Phillies have room to play Hoskins. Still, seeing him thrive has to be bittersweet for Phillies fans. They're happy to see a former fan favorite succeeding, but selfishly wish he was doing this in red pinstripes somehow, some way.