July 05, 2022

Who won the week in Philly sports: Rhys Hoskins picks up slack as Phillies make Wild Card run

By Shamus Clancy
PhillyVoice Staff

The Phillies' season felt dead in the water when Bryce Harper suffered a fractured left thumb, necessitating surgery. That may still prove to be true over the coming weeks, but the Phils, in defiance of everything we've known about them for the last decade, are hanging tough.

Ahead of the team's three-game home set with the lowly Nationals on Tuesday night, the Phillies find themselves just a single game back in the Wild Card race. A series win over the Cardinals has the Phils not just surviving, but thriving with Rhys Hoskins stepping up and absolutely crushing it.

We had June Kyle Schwarber going wild. Do we have July Hoskins now? I've written frequently about Hoskins' early season struggles, but credit it where it's due: Hoskins is red hot for a Phillies squad in dire need of big bats. He's my pick for the person who won the week in Philly sports in my super subjective methodology.

Summer Heat Wave 🔥

The Phillies played six games over the last week, going 3-3. During that stretch, Hoskins hit .421 with an on-base percentage of .520 and an "I can't believe this is real" 1.158 slugging percentage. He went yard four times too while miraculously striking out only three times.

He is MASHING:

Rhys Hoskins with his fourth HR in five games ‼️ pic.twitter.com/MoB12XRwZ9
— ESPN (@espn) July 4, 2022

The Two Rhyses ✌️

Here are how Hoskins' stats in April and May compare to how he's performed in June and July:

Month	G	PA	OPS	HR	Phillies W-L
April-May	49	208	.708	8	20-29
June-July	30	129	1.090	9	21-9

I'm not sure I've seen a player of Hoskins' caliber at the plate go oh-so cold and then go frantically hot in such rapid succession.

July Hoskins ☀️

Look at Hoskins' career splits by month:

Month	G	PA	OPS	HR
March/April	104	373	.880	22
May	107	390	.756	16
June	98	364	.885	27
July	77	275	1.012	19
August	109	383	.891	29
September/October	95	345	.773	22

July Hoskins! Perhaps the Phillies can one day have a non-Bryce player be good for an entire season rather than just a month.

Person Who Almost Won the Week: Daryl Morey 💻

If I woke up one morning this past weekend to the news of Kevin Durant coming to Philadelphia, Morey would've locked up this award for the remainder of 2022.