That Balls Outta Here
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Phillies: Five things we learned from the month of May

By John Town

LOS ANGELES, CA - MAY 31: Yasmani Grandal of the Los Angeles Dodgers stands at the plate while Scott Kingery #4 of the Philadelphia Phillies scores a run in the seventh inning as Jesmuel Valentin #9 signals to stand at Dodger Stadium on May 31, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - MAY 31: Yasmani Grandal of the Los Angeles Dodgers stands at the plate while Scott Kingery #4 of the Philadelphia Phillies scores a run in the seventh inning as Jesmuel Valentin #9 signals to stand at Dodger Stadium on May 31, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images) /
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BALTIMORE, MD – MAY 16: Rhys Hoskins #17 of the Philadelphia Phillies hits an RBI double during the seventh inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on May 16, 2018 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /

Rhys Hoskins is human

Rhys Hoskins was simply unreal in April. While he didn’t have the gaudy home run totals from his debut last August, he still had a ridiculous .303/.457/.528 line with a 20.7 percent walk rate through the end of April. He already racked up 1.2 wins above replacement in just one month.

However, as soon as the calendar turned to May, Hoskins showed he is human at the plate. He hit just .161 the whole month, collecting just 14 hits. Hoskins racked up 32 strikeouts in 100 plate appearances. He often laid off good pitches early in the count to whiff on bad ones late in the count.

Despite his struggles at the plate, manager Gabe Kapler continued to bat Hoskins second in the lineup every day. It took Hoskins fouling a ball off into his face and breaking his jaw to take him out of the lineup.

Thankfully, the injury isn’t severe enough to require surgery, meaning Hoskins should only be out for a few weeks. Hopefully, the time off will help him re-adjust at the plate so he comes back firing on all cylinders like he did in April.

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