Phillies welcome the Atlanta Braves: 5 things to watch for
Rhys Hoskins
May has not been a friendly month for Rhys Hoskins after hitting .303 with four home runs in the months of March/April. His offensive statistics have essentially been cut in half with nearly as many strikeouts.
A home run in the series finale in St. Louis was not only his first since May 5, but primarily a glimpse of hope the month-long hitting slump is coming to an end. In the 11 games between home runs Hoskins hit .154 with six hits and 17 strikeouts. It’s uncharacteristic of Hoskins to strikeout as much as he’s experienced the last month, and he has more strikeouts this season through 44 games than he did as a rookie through 50 with five fewer walks.
Personally, I thought Hoskins needed two or maybe three games off just to work on his pitch recognition, swing, and his head. That would have provided playing time for Nick Williams in left, but alas, Hoskins started all but one game in the home run drought.
More recently Gabe Kapler has hit Hoskins second, including the series opener on Monday, but Hoskins’ numbers have been better as the clean-up hitter. Through 30 games hitting fourth this year Hoskins is hitting .303 compared to the .146 average when batting second.
We’ll see if the power surge will continue for Hoskins against Atlanta, a team he’s hitting .283 off of in his career.