I don’t think Phillies fans ever knew what to truly think about Rhys Hoskins. When he arrived in Philadelphia at the tail end of the 2017 season and started hitting home runs every game, some of us thought we might have our own version of Aaron Judge. And while Hoskins would go on to have a solid tenure with the Phillies, he was never able to live up to those inflated early expectations.

Injuries were a part of it. Hoskins finished both the 2020 and 2021 seasons on the Injured List, and both years, it felt like his absence might have been a key factor in the team missing the playoffs. He then suffered a torn ACL in Spring Training in 2023 that ruined his final season under contract.

By the time the season ended, Bryce Harper was the team’s first baseman, Kyle Schwarber was the designated hitter and considering how it went the last time they tried playing Hoskins in left field, there didn’t seem to be any spot for Hoskins. The team allowed him to hit free agency, and he signed a three-year deal with the Brewers.

Year one of that deal didn’t go well. He batted just .216, he wasn’t walking as much as he used to, and 26 home runs wasn’t enough to compensate, especially considering the knee injury didn’t make his subpar defense any better. He topped off the season by going 0-9 in the Brewers’ Wild Card series loss to the Mets.

Year two is going much better. He’s putting up a slash line of .282/.384/.459 and it sounds like being a year removed from his injury has made a huge difference.

The Brewers are currently 3.5 games out of a playoff spot. If they slip further out of the race, it’s worth wondering if they’d be sellers at the deadline. Bryce Harper has said he might be willing to move back to the outfield if the right first baseman was available, and Hoskins’ bat seems like it would slot in nicely between Harper and Kyle Schwarber.

X-Men character of the series

Morph

In the premiere episode of the X-Men animated series, shapeshifter Morph was injured by Sentinels. The team was forced to abandon him, prompting him to join up with the villainous Mr. Sinister. He was never truly evil though and eventually found his way back to the X-Men.

The show having to be vague about Morph’s death because of BS&P works to its advantage. Now they show that he was shot at pointblank by the Sentinels while the rest of the X-Men left him behind. And someone very Sinister finds him, hence the circles around his eyes. pic.twitter.com/3KhKBJOTzD

— Don_East: (@TheRealDonEast) August 2, 2023

Additional thought about the series

One reason the Brewers have been mired in mediocrity is that they aren’t really great at anything. They have some good pitchers but rank just 20th in team ERA. Their pitchers have just eleven quality starts on the season, and the bullpen isn’t especially deep. Offensively, they’re eleventh in runs scored, team OPS is 25th, and they’re 26th in home runs.

They are entering the series on a four-game winning streak, so maybe they’re heating up. But it seems just as likely that they’re about to counter those wins with a few consecutive losses.