Phillies rookie Rhys Hoskins finishes fourth in Rookie of the Year voting
By John Town
After a ridiculous 50-game debut in the major-leagues, Phillies rookie Rhys Hoskins finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting.
The first of the major BBWAA awards, National and American League Rookies of the Year, were announced Monday night. The Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger took home the NL award and the Yankees’ Aaron Judge won the AL award. Down the NL ballot was Phillies rookie first baseman Rhys Hoskins, who came in fourth in the voting.
Hoskins received the most votes of any rookie that wasn’t a finalist (Bellinger, Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong, and Pirates first baseman Josh Bell). Hoskins received one second-place vote and nine third-place votes, summing up to 12 voting points. He actually had more third-place votes than Bell, but since Bell had far more second-place votes, he finished well ahead of Hoskins.
The last Phillie to appear on a Rookie of the Year ballot was Ken Giles in 2014, who also came in fourth. TSN gave J.A. Happ the award in 2009 while Ryan Howard was the last Phillie to win the BBWAA award in 2005.
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While Hoskins didn’t play many games – he appeared in just 50 after debuting Aug. 10 – those games were some of the best in recent Phillies history. In that 50-game stretch, he hit 18 home runs, drove in 48 runs, and posted a 1.014 OPS (165 OPS+). His 2.0 bWAR were the third-most of all Philadelphia hitters while his 2.2 fWAR was fourth-highest among all NL rookies.
Extrapolated out to a full 162 games, Hoskins would have hit 58 home runs, drove in 156 runs, and recorded 340 total bases. He would have had more than six wins above replacement, making him an easy MVP candidate at that pace.
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That first month Hoskins came up to the majors was easily the most fun thing to happen in Philadelphia baseball in years. In 22 games in August, Hoskins hit 11 home runs and had a 1.149 OPS. This included a nine-game stretch between Aug. 19 and 27 where he hit eight home runs and drove in 19 runs.
In September, Hoskins had another home run spree, hitting six home runs in six games between Sept. 8 and 14. He hit seven home runs in September altogether.
What probably kept Hoskins from cracking the top three was the fact that he struggled the last few weeks of the year.
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In his last 16 games, Hoskins had just seven hits without hitting any home runs. He still drew a fair amount of walks, but he only managed a .292 on-base percentage in that stretch altogether. It’s hard to fault Hoskins though