By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Through the first 15 games of his major league career, Philadelphia Phillies 1B/LF Rhys Hoskins is off to a historic start at the plate. In 53 at-bats, the 24-year-old is slashing .283/.406/.755 with eight home runs and 19 RBIs, prompting some to wonder if he could be the next great Phillies hitter.
Let's take a look at some other statistics that put in perspective how dominant Hoskins' start has been:
- Hoskins is averaging a home run every 6.625 at-bats. When Barry Bonds set the single-season home run record of 73 in 2001, he hit a home run every 6.521 at-bats.
- When Ryan Howard hit 58 home runs in 2006, the year he won the MVP, he averaged a home run every 10.02 at-bats.
- If you project Hoskins' average of a home run every 6.625 at-bats out to a 500 at-bat season, he would hit 62.5 home runs.
- According to ESPN Stats and Info, Hoskins is tied with Trevor Story and Carlos Delgado as the only players in history to hit eight home runs in their first 15 games. Delgado did it over the course of two seasons, which may actually be more impressive, but still.
- As NJ Advance Media's Joe Giglio pointed out, Hoskins is the only player in the history of the sport with eight home runs and 19 RBIs in his first 15 games.
- Hoskins has only struck out 11 times in his first 15 games, while walking nearly as many times (10).
- Let's keep in mind, Rhys Hoskins started out 0-12. That means that he has all eight of his home runs in the 12 games since he started out 0-12.
Perhaps the most exciting part of all of this is that Hoskins is doing this while playing mostly in left field, rather than his natural position of first base. Many players who weren't good fielders – Adam Dunn comes to mind – have struggled to continue hitting at the same pace when they were moved to a different position or to DH. (That's not to say Hoskins isn't a good fielder, but that he's experienced a similar position change.) Hoskins has seemingly made a seamless transition to hitting at the major league level, while spending most games playing a position that he's unfamiliar with.
Hoskins, of course, is not going to continue hitting at this pace. But when you consider that he's doing this in his first big league experience, how good of an approach he has and that he doesn't exactly have a great lineup around him, Phillies fans should feel excited by what Hoskins is doing right now.
