Rhys Hoskins, Phillies avoid arbitration, settle on new contract for the 2023 season
Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins has avoided arbitration and settled with the organization on a $12 million contract for the 2023 season.
Rhys Hoskins, Phillies Avoid Arbitration
Hoskins is the longest-tenured player on The Phillies roster and was entering his third season of arbitration while set to be a free agent at the end of 2023.
While Phillies fans who decided to actually watch games during last season’s World Series run found plenty of reasons to rip the Phillies first baseman for his defensive blunders, Hoskins has been a more-than-solid contributor since joining the Phillies in the big leagues the final 50 games of the 2017 season.
Over the last six seasons, Hoskins ranks 12th in fWAR among qualified MLB first basement (11.5), 10th in wRC+ (125) and seventh in home runs (148) in only 667 games. To put that in perspective, all six first baseman above Hoskins in the rankings have played at least 726 games.
Although he started the postseason out slow and then finished slow in the World Series (with the rest of the Phillies lineup), Hoskins had a dominant stretch over the NLDS and the NLCS.
THE HOMER AND THE SPIKE FROM RHYS HOSKINS 😤
Hoskins batted .263 with 6 home runs, 12 RBI, four walks, 13 strikeouts, and a 1.070 OPS during a 10-game stretch of the postseason, which MLB.com ranked as the fifth best performance from any player in the 2022 playoffs.
Hoskins was estimated to receive $12.8 million in arbitration. That’s a steal for the caliber of player the Phillies will get in return.
As for an extension, we’ll just have to wait and see how the Phillies perform in 2023. Adding Trea Turner to the lineup and dropping Hoskins down in the order where he can hit like a true-power hitter should help his numbers and ideally, he’ll limit his mistakes at first base.
At 29-years old, Hoskins is who he is, and that’s good for a .250 batting average with 30+ home runs and 80+ RBI.
If the Phillies do want to extend Hoskins, the price tag will definitely be less than the top tier first baseman in Freddie Freeman (six years, $162 million) and Paul Goldschmidt (five years, $130 million). What’s more likely, is an extension around $95 million over five years.
We’ll just have to wait and see what the Phillies decide to do throughout or after the 2023 season.
