PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Phillies suffered a big blow on Thursday when their first baseman Rhys Hoskins tore the ACL in his left knee during a game with the Detroit Tigers. The team announced that Hoskins was injured when he made a non-contact play behind first base and will undergo surgery.
The Phillies did not reveal a timetable for Hoskins’ recovery, nor did they reveal which doctor would be performing the surgery or when it would occur, but the general consensus is that Hoskins will miss all of 2023. This is also a big blow for Hoskins as 2023 was his walk year, and he’ll be a free agent after the season’s end.
Connor Thomas, the host of the Locked On Phillies podcast, recorded a somber edition of the show early Thursday evening in which he discussed Hoskins’s injury, how the Phillies can replace Hoskins, who are the internal and external options to replace him, and how does this affect his bid for free agency?
At the time of the recording, Thomas didn’t know for sure that it was the ACL, but he knew it was a serious injury for how Hoskins reacted and how he was carted off the field. As we saw with Edwin Diaz in the WBC, it's a serious injury if you can’t walk on the knee.
“The Philadelphia Phillies could be without their first baseman for the entirety of the 2023 season," Thomas said. "Yes, the one who’s supposed to be able to give you 30 home runs and 85-90 runs batted in. That’s a huge loss. That’s like a season-changing loss.”
The Phillies will already be without Bryce Harper until at least May. However, earlier reports said he wouldn’t return until the All-Star break after undergoing Tommy John surgery on his elbow this past November.
And Thomas acknowledges how in a previous episode, he talked about how replacing Harper wouldn’t be too tough because you could plug other guys into the DH role, where he played most of his games (90) in 2022 because of his elbow injury.
“The first base position in the National League is important both defensively and offensively, and when you have a guy like Rhys Hoskins, who was rated by MLB as one of the top 10 first basemen in baseball, to lose that guy? It changes the lineup," Thomas said.
Hoskins, who hit 30 home runs in 2022, also hit 33 doubles and had 145 hits. Additionally, he was durable, playing in 156 games last season.
So who replaces Hoskins? Thomas admittedly was at a loss on this subject at first because, at the time of the recording, the injury had just occurred, and he was posting his genuine reaction to it.
He said that losing Rhys Hoskins could turn the Phillies from a World Series contender into not being a World Series contender. He knows it sounds dramatic, but losing a bat with that much power in the lineup is a big blow.
There are still four free agent first basemen left unsigned for the season, and Thomas goes through them all: Miguel Sano, Greg Bird, Tomas Telis, and Chris Marrero. Out of those four, Sano and Bird, according to Thomas, are the only real options for the Phillies.
And what does this all mean for Hoskins when the offseason arrives, and he enters free agency?
The timing of this injury could not have been any worse for him, but it is possible that teams will look at his 2022 numbers which were some of the best of his career, and realize that the injury was a fluky incident that just happened at the worst possible time.
It’s also possible he could get a good deal based on that, but the injury will likely cost Hoskins some money.
All is not lost for the Phillies. Yes, Hoskins is probably gone for the season, but they still have guys like Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber on the roster, and with Bryce Harper looking to return by midseason, things may actually turn out okay for Philadephia.
Thomas talks more about options to replace Hoskins and how the Phillies can move forward on the latest episode of the Locked On Phillies podcast.