Rhys Hoskins Carted Off After Suffering Apparent Knee Injury
With one week to go until Opening Day, all any team wants to do is avoid injuries. They are inevitable to an extent in spring. The hope is always that they spare a team’s most impactful players on the field and in the clubhouse.
That hope was tarnished for the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday afternoon. In the second inning of their Grapefruit League against the Detroit Tigers, first baseman Rhys Hoskins crumpled to the ground grabbing his left knee after attempting to field a routine ground ball. The 30-year-old is the team’s longest-tenured position player and the source of some of the most electric moments of their unexpected World Series run last fall. He has been a fixture of the team’s lineup since debuting in August 2017.
The injury could not come at a worse time for team and player. The Phillies are already down two-time NL MVP Bryce Harper, who is recovering from offseason Tommy John surgery. Their No. 3 starter Ranger Suárez and some other depth pieces are dealing with injuries as well. And Hoskins is slated to hit free agency for the first time at the end of the season. He is projected to be one of the top hitters on the market. But a significant injury could obviously affect interest in him this winter. He has hit at least 27 home runs in every full season of his Major League career with an OPS+ above 120 in every year except 2019.
If Hoskins misses time, 27-year-old Darick Hall figures to take the majority of playing time at first base. Hall hit nine long balls and slashed .250/.282/.522 in 136 at-bats as a rookie in 2022. He did almost all of his damage against righties. Third baseman Alec Bohm could also slide over to spend time at first base. But any small flexibility advantages are dwarfed by the potential loss of Hoskins, both at the plate and in the clubhouse.
Update — 7:42 p.m.
The Phillies confirmed Hoskins will indeed miss significant time Thursday night, announcing that Hoskins has torn his ACL and will need surgery.
The loss of Hoskins will be felt on the field and off. Few players if any on the roster are more synonymous with the franchise, good and bad, than Hoskins. He represents one of the few remaining connections to the darkest days of the club’s rebuild during the mid-2010s. He bore the weight of the organization during their September collapses the last few seasons — sometimes fairly, sometimes not. After missing the end of the 2020 and 2021 seasons with a left elbow injury that required Tommy John (Hoskins does throw right-handed) and a groin injury, respectively, he helped the Phillies cross the finish line and authored one of the team’s most iconic moments of the postseason in Game 3 of the NLDS. His six postseason home runs in 2022 were tied for the Major League lead.
If this is Hoskins’ last chapter in Philadelphia, it would be an incredibly somber ending to a winding but largely uplifting journey. It is possible that not all hope is lost; his teammate Kyle Schwarber suffered a worse injury in early April 2016 and improbably returned to DH for the Chicago Cubs in the World Series. It could mark the second straight season a pending free agent Phillie improbably returns from injury to play a key role for the club after Zach Eflin returned from the latest of his chronic knee problems to become one of the team’s most effective relievers down the stretch and in the postseason. The odds are not on Hoskins’ side. But everyone will be rooting for him.
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