Rhys Hoskins

At 31 years old, Rhys Hoskins has this physical status:

Rhys Dean Hoskins (Reece), an American professional baseball first baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB), is a member of the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Sacramento State Hornets coached youth baseball. Hoskins played college baseball for the Sacramento State Hornets.

In the fifth round of the 2014 Major League Baseball draft, he was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies.

In 2017, Hoskins made his MLB debut.

Early life

Hoskins was born in Sacramento, California, on March 17, 1993. Paul and Cathy Hoskins, both lawyers, were attorneys. Hoskins was a competitive kid, eager to win at card and board games, as well as pickup games in the family's backyard. His mother was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was two years old. She died of the disease in 2009, shortly before Hoskins' 16th birthday. Hoskins grew closer to his younger sister Meloria after his mother's death. Hoskins modeled his baseball appearance after J. T. Snow, who worked in gridiron football as well as playing first base, and later on Paul Goldschmidt.

Hoskins, a multi-sport athlete at Jesuit High School in Carmichael, California, excelling at baseball, basketball, and football while also keeping a 4.0 grade point average. The Hoskins' parents discouraged him from solely focusing on one sport and instead encouraging him to pursue a variety of sports. Zach Green, a shortstop who was highly sought after the 2012 MLB Draft, was one of the Hoskins' teammates. Green came in third place in the lineup, with the Hoskins following as cleanup. The Hoskins earned a.421 batting average, 28 runs batted in (RBIs), and a.544 on-base percentage in 2011.

Personal life

On November 9, 2019, Hoskins married Jayme Bermudez, his longtime girlfriend, on November 9, 2019. Scott Kingery, a Phillies teammate, was one of the groomsmen.

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College career

Rather than turn professional straight out of high school, the Hoskins decided to play college baseball in order to better understand the game's mental aspect. In 2011, he decided to attend Sacramento State, the only college that gave him a scholarship.

With 10 home runs and 53 RBIs (3rd), and was named Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year (Collegiate Baseball Newspaper), he batted.353 as a freshman, ranked second in the league (both 2nd in the league), and was named first team All-American, Baseball America's First Team. He played collegiate summer baseball with the Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod Baseball League in 2013 and was named a league all-star. As a junior, he hit 12 home runs with 53 RBIs and a.573 slugging percentage, while batting.319 and was named WAC Player of the Year, with the second team All-West Region (ABCA/Rawlings), and Academic All-WAC and Academic All-WAC.

Professional career

In the fifth round, 142nd overall in the 2014 MLB Draft, Hoskins was selected, but he refused to join the team for a $349,700 signing bonus. Hoskins made his professional debut in 2014 with the New York-Penn League's Class A Short Season Williamsport Crosscutters. In 70 games with the team, he batted.237 with nine home runs, but his results were inconsistent. Hoskins was sent by the Florida Instructional League in September, where he first developed his signature left leg kick batting position.

To begin the 2015 season, Hoskins was drafted into the South Atlantic League's Class A Lakewood BlueClaws (SAL). The Phillies named Hoskins their Minor League Player of the Month for May after batting.362 with two home runs and 23 RBIs. Hoskins went 1-for-3 with one run scored in the SAL All-Star Game on June 23, finishing second in the SAL Home Run Derby. He and fellow BlueClaw All-Star Malquin Canelo were promoted to the Florida State League's Class A-Advanced Clearwater Threshers. After hitting nine runs, including four doubles, one triple, and two home runs in seven games, Hoskins was named Florida State League Player of the Week on August 24. In 2015, the Hoskins batted.319, 90 RBIs, and 86 runs scored in 567 plate appearances, in comparison to the two teams. Hoskins wondered if there were any winter baseball leagues in which he could play, as he wanted to maintain his momentum from last season. He was drafted to the Sydney Blue Sox of the Australian Baseball League, where he batted.323 with eight home runs and a.561 slugging percentage in 42 games.

Hoskins joined the Double-A Reading Fightin Phils of the Eastern League in 2016. He and teammate Dylan Cozens made an immediate impression in Reading; by mid-June, they had combined for 36 home runs, the second-highest total by a pair of players in all of professional baseball - only Mark Trumbo and Manny Machado of the Baltimore Orioles ranked higher. They were the first Reading teammates to reach 30 or more home runs in a single season, and the Hoskins' and Cozens' success at the plate spurred a renewed sense of excitement among Reading baseball fans, who came out to games to see the two hit. In 2016, the Hoskins batted.281, with 38 home runs, 116 RBIs, and 95 runs in 589 plate appearances. He was named the Eastern League Rookie of the Year in the 2013 season and co-founded the Paul Owens Award with Cozens as the best players in the Phillies farm system.

The Hoskins began playing with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs of the Class AAA International League in 2017. In the All-Star Futures Game, the Hoskins appeared at first base for Team USA. He led the International League in RBIs (91), OPS (.966), on-base percentage (.581), and slugging percentage (.581), and ranked 2nd in runs (79), fifth in runs (82), and seventh in total bases (64), and seventh in overall average (.284) and walks (64). Hoskins was named by the International League as its MVP, Rookie of the Year, and Midseason and Postseason All-Star Team first baseman, and was named Phillies Minor League Hitter of the Month for April. He was also selected by Baseball America as the first baseman on the Baseball America Minor League All Star Team and a Triple A All Star, as well as a MiLB.com Phillies Organization All Star.

With regular outfielder Aaron Altherr out of the game, the Hoskins started playing in left field with the IronPigs to brace for a move to the big leagues. On August 10, 2017, he was called up to the Philadelphia Phillies, with Cameron Perkins optioned to make room for the Hoskins on the roster. In a 10-0 loss to the New York Mets, he debuted the same day, going 0-for-2 with a walk. After his first game, Hoskins' manager Pete Mackanin moved the team to the cleanup position, and the Mets lost 6-2 in the first and fifth innings, respectively. In a 7-4 loss to the San Diego Padres, the Hoskins became the first Phillies slugger to reach his first two major league home runs in the same game since Scott Rolen in 1996.

Hoskins broke a string of rookie records. Hoskins made his first home run in seven days in a row on August 26, when they made their first appearance in 17 games. After only 64 at bats, Shane Spencer and Gary Sanchez' records of 11 home runs in 81 at bats was broken on the following day. In addition, he tied for the first time since Chase Utley in 2008, he tied former Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard's record of 10 home runs in one month. Hoskins' first Phillies player to do so in 53 years, converted a triple play from the outfield in the same game.

Hoskins' 25th RBI in the second-fewest games since the statistic was first used in 1920 in August 28 in his 19th career game. (Mandy Brooks of the Chicago Cubs did so in 19 games in 1925). He scored a double and became the third rookie in franchise history to have extra-base hits in six consecutive games, joining Pinky Whitney of the 1928 team and Dick Allen of the 1964 team. His 11 home runs in August were the most by a rookie in a month in Phillies history. The Hoskins' record-breaking streak continued on September 2nd, when he became the first player to reach 12 home runs in only 24 games. In August, Hoskins was named the NL Rookie of the Month.

Despite the fact that he appeared in the outfield only as a freshman and in only three minor league games, Hoskins played 20 in his first 26 major league games. In 32 games, Hoskins earned his 15th and 16th home runs on September 12. In 33 games, he made his 17th home run in September 13. He was the fastest player in history in terms of games played, winning his ninth through 17th career home runs.

Hoskins scored his 18th home run in 34 games in 34 games over 145 plate appearances on September 14, his 18th home run in 34 games. In terms of games played in major leagues, he was the fastest player to reach those many home runs in terms of games played. In his first 39 games, he had four RBIs, placing him second only to Albert Pujols, who had 44 RBIs in his first 39 games; Joe DiMaggio had 42. In his 41st game, he scored his 45th RBI, making him the first player to have 45 career RBIs (ahead of DiMaggio (43 games) and Ted Williams (44 games).

In 2017, Hoskins will have to have no more than 130 at-bats (or no more than 50 innings for a pitcher). He had his 131st at-bat on September 18, marking his first at-bat in 2017.

He batted.259/.618 with 18 home runs (the most by any player in major league history who made his season debut on August 1 or later), 48 RBIs, and two stolen bases in 170 at bats in the 2017 season. With runners in scoring position in major league baseball, the Hoskins had the highest slugging percentage (911) and OPS (1.403). In the year's polling for NL Rookie of the Year, he came in 4th.

Hoskins made history by becoming the first player in the Philadelphia franchise to reach 30 home runs on June 27, 2018. He played in 120 games, including Hall of Fame outfielder Chuck Klein, who played in 132 games. Hoskins became the first Phillies player to reach 100 RBIs on July 3. He did so in 124 games, a franchise record.

Despite not being named an All-Star, Hoskins was selected as one of the eight participants in the MLB Home Run Derby. With a matchup against the Milwaukee Brewers' 1st seed Jest Aguilar, the Hoskins advanced to the 8th and final seed in the Home Run Derby as the 8th and final seed. By a score of 17–12, the Hoskins defeated Aguilar by a margin of 17–12. Kyle Schwarber, the Chicago Cubs' outfielder, was in the second round of his matchup. Despite being the first player in baseball to reach 20 home runs in a single round of the Home Run Derby, the Hoskins were defeated by Schwarber 21–20 as time expired.

He made the fastest Phillie to reach 100 walks on August 5, beating Don Hurst in his 151st career game. Hoskins became the seventh-fastest major league player to reach 50 home runs in his 192nd career game on September 18. Rudy York (153), Mark McGwire (161), Gary Sanchez (161), Aaron Judge (171), and Ryan Howard (182) all hit 50 home runs more often.

Hoskins batted.346/.496 with five stolen bases for the season. With 87 walks and 72 extra base hits (each 7th in the National League), 38 doubles (8th), and 16.4 at-bats-per-home-run (each 10th) the Hoskins reached 34 home runs (tied for seventh in the NL) with 87 runs and 72 extra base hits (each 7th in the National League). He led the NL in pitches/plate appearance (4.42), ranking second in MLB with 18 go-ahead home runs (18), and had the highest fly ball percentage of all major league hitters (51.7%). He led NL left fielders in mistakes with six, six, and had the lowest Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) rating of all NL left fielders at -24.

In the 2018 MLB Japan All-Star Series, Hoskins represented MLB in November 2018.

In 2019, Hoskins batted.364/.454 in 160 games (5th in the National League), with 29 home runs, 85 RBIs, 6 sacrifice flies (8th), a NL-leading 116 walks (8th), six sacrifice flies (8th) in 705 plate appearances (2nd) and 6 sacrifice flies (8th). At 54%, he had the highest fly ball percentage in major league baseball. He moved to first base, where he appeared in 158 games and his range factor of 8.32 was fifth-best in the league.

With 10 home runs and 26 RBI in 41 games for the Phillies, the Hoskins slashed.384/.503 in the reduced 2020 season. Hoskins underwent Tommy John surgery on his left elbow on October 2, 2020.

During the 2021 season, the Hoskins suffered an abdominal tear. On August 6, he was put on the injured list as a result of a left groin strain. The Hoskins' return from the groin injury was postponed. Hoskins aggravated the abdominal pain and was thrown back on the injured list, with the remainder of the season being postponed. With 27 home runs and 71 runs batted in, Hoskins was leading the Phillies with 27 home runs and 71 runs batted in, while his opponents were batting for a.247 average and.864 OPS in 107 games played when his season ended, including a.247 batting average and.864 OPS.

In the 2022 regular season, the Hoskins batted.346/.462 in 589 at bats, with 81 runs, 30 home runs, and 79 RBIs.

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