February 21, 2023
If you've put aside the doom and gloom of a Super Bowl loss and are riding high off a Mac McClung dunk contest win, get aboard the Phillies hype train. The Fightins are down in Clearwater prepping for spring training with their first games coming Saturday, a split-squad set with the Yankees and Tigers, respectively.
MLB Network is getting in on the fun as the season approaches, ranking the top 100 players in the sport. 80 players have been revealed so far and the Phillies are well represented.
Five Phillies have made this list at this point:
94. Rhys Hoskins
79. Aaron Nola
44. Kyle Schwarber
35. Zack Wheeler
29. J.T. Realmuto
My first thought is that Realumto might be a tad low. He's the best player at his position, won both the Gold Glove Award and the Sliver Slugger Award at catcher in 2022 and finished seventh in National League MVP voting. BCIB, indeed.
They should have two different rankings for Hoskins. "Hot Rhys Hoskins" is a top 10 player. "Cold Rhys Hoskins" is a few hundred players down the list.
Two more installments are to come. The top 20 through 11 players will be revealed on Wednesday, Feb. 22. The top 10 will be released on Thursday, Feb. 23. Each installment will be aired at 8:00 p.m. on MLB Network (Xfinity channel 738 in Philadelphia).
It's pretty obvious that the Phils will have two more players on this list with Trea Turner and Bryce Harper yet to be ranked. Where they end up remains to be seen.
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