While Phillies fans got to see their first at-bats of Trea Turner in a Phillies uniform on Sunday, they have yet to see some of the teams returning batters like Bryce Harper or Rhys Hoskins.
While Harper’s Tommy John surgery was well known, Hoskins has also not appeared due to a surgery he had this offseason.
The Athletic’s Matt Gelb reported on Sunday that Hoskins has been absent due to meniscus surgery he had this offseason.
The surgery was reportedly as a result of wear and tear rather than a specific injury and was done on the right knee.
Hoskins has been cleared for team activities and is expected to appear on Friday for his first at bats of Spring Training. As such, there isn’t a belief that this will impact the club during the regular season.
Hoskins will be entering his seventh season with the club and is coming off one of the season where he’s made both the most plate appearances and at bats of his career.
He had a slash line of .246/.332/.462 with 30 homers and 79 RBIs last year.
While he was able to work his average in line with previous season given more at bats and was productive, his offense was just not up to the rest of his career. In 2022, Hoskins posted the second-worst slugging percentage (and homer percentage) of his career along with the second-worst walk rate and far and away the highest strikeout percentage he’s ever had.
The Phillies and Hoskins will hope that Hoskins can maintain that average while adding some extra power and getting a bit of a return to Hoskins’ usual ability to work counts and get walks rather than strikeouts. This surgery could certainly help with that, particularly if it was something that was nagging him toward the end of last season.
Hoskins, along with Aaron Nola, are the two biggest names the Phillies have set to reach free agency in the next offseason, so this will be a huge year for Hoskins and how his next contract will play out.
