Phillies: 8 milestones to watch for this season

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PHILADELPHIA, PA – APRIL 08: Philadelphia Phillies First Baseman Rhys Hoskins (17) signals to the crowd after hitting a home run during the sixth inning of the game between the Washington Nationals and the Philadelphia Phillies on April 8, 2019, at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, PA. (Photo by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Rhys Hoskins: 100 home runs

Going into his third big league season and second as a full-time player, Rhys Hoskins is approaching his 100th career home run.

Right now Hoskins has 81 career home runs, 19 away from the centennial mark.

Phillies legend Ryan Howard holds the franchise and MLB all-time record for fewest games to reach 100 home runs, doing so midway through the 2007 season in his 325th career game.

Hoskins is already well-beyond 325 games, playing his 363rd last season. For comparison, it took Mark McGwire 393 games to hit his first 100 home runs and it took 395 games for Joe DiMaggio to do so.

Barring injury, Hoskins should easily surpass 19 home runs this season. With his new swing and the guidance of manager Joe Girardi and hitting coach Joe Dillon, fans are hoping that Hoskins returns to his old form hitting monstrous home runs on a more frequent basis.

We’ll also have to see where Hoskins fits into the lineup. A lot of people think he’ll hit in the cleanup spot as a traditional home run hitter (much like Howard in his prime) but Hoskins could move all around depending on where Bryce Harper lands on the sheet.

If there is protection behind Hoskins in the lineup, which could be Harper or J.T. Realmuto, he could be more likely to see a higher number of fastballs

Baseball Reference projects Hoskins to hit 31 home runs, three short of his career-high in 2018 coming off his electric rookie campaign.

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