Rhys Hoskins

In 2019, Hoskins batted .226/.364/.454 in 160 games (5th in the National League) with 29 home runs, 85 RBIs, 6 sacrifice flies (8th in the NL), and a NL-leading 116 walks, and 173 strikeouts (6th), and six sacrifice flies (8th) in 705 plate appearances (2nd) and 570 at bats. He again had the highest fly ball percentage in major league baseball, at 50.4%. On defense he moved to first base, where he played 158 games and his range factor of 8.32 was 5th-best in the league.

To be considered a rookie in 2018, Hoskins would have had to have no more than 130 at-bats (or no more than 50 innings for a pitcher) in 2017. He had his 131st at-bat on September 18, which officially made 2017 his rookie year.

On June 27, 2018, Hoskins became the fastest player in Phillies' franchise history to reach 30 career home runs. He did so in 120 games, passing Hall of Fame outfielder Chuck Klein, who did so in 132 games. On July 3, Hoskins became the fastest Phillies player to reach 100 career RBIs. He did so in 124 games, a franchise record

In November 2018, Hoskins represented MLB in the 2018 MLB Japan All-Star Series.

Hoskins opened the 2017 season playing with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs of the Class AAA International League. Hoskins started at first base for Team USA in the All-Star Futures Game. In a AAA season cut short by his call-up, he led the International League in RBIs (91), OPS (.966), on-base percentage (.385), and slugging percentage (.581), and ranked 2nd in runs (78), 3rd in home runs (29; setting the team's season record) and total bases (233), and 7th in batting average (.284) and walks (64). Hoskins was selected by the International League as its MVP, Rookie of the Year, and Midseason and Postseason All-Star Team first baseman, and was named Phillies Minor League Hitter of the Month for April. He was also selected by Baseball America as the first baseman on the First Team of the Baseball America Minor League All-Star Team and a Triple A All Star, and an MiLB.com Phillies Organization All Star.

On August 10, 2017, the Phillies called up Hoskins to the Major Leagues. He made his MLB debut the same day as a left fielder. Beginning with his second game, he batted cleanup. He got his first MLB hit—a single—on August 13. He hit his first two MLB home runs the following day.

For the 2017 season with Philadelphia, he batted .259/.396/.618 with 18 home runs (the most by any player in major league history who made his season debut August 1 or later), 48 RBIs, and two stolen bases in 170 at bats. Hoskins had the highest slugging percentage (.911) and OPS (1.403) with runners in scoring position in major league baseball. He finished 4th in voting for NL Rookie of the Year.

Hoskins spent 2016 with the Reading Fightin Phils of the Class AA Eastern League, where he batted .281/.377/.566 with 38 home runs (2nd among all minor league players) and 116 RBIs (3rd among all minor league players) with 95 runs and 71 walks (both 2nd in the league). He was named the Eastern League Rookie of the Year, and received the Paul Owens Award as one of the two best position players in the Phillies' minor-league system, was an Eastern League midseason and postseason All-Star, was Phillies Minor League Player of the Month for June, was Minor League Player of the Week for May 22 and June 12, was Eastern League Player of the Month for June and Player of the Week for June 12, and was a Baseball America Double-A All-Star and Minor League All-Star, and was an MiLB.com Phillies Organization All Star.

He started 2015 with the Lakewood BlueClaws of the Class A South Atlantic League, and was later promoted to the Clearwater Threshers of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League. Hoskins was named Phillies Minor League Player of the Month for May, a South Atlantic League Midseason All-Star, Florida State League Player of the Week on August 23, Baseball America Low-Class-A All Star, and an MiLB.com Phillies Organization All Star. He posted a combined .319 (2nd among Phillies minor leaguers)/.395/.518 batting line, with 17 home runs (leading Phillies minor leaguers), and 90 RBIs between the two teams. During the 2015/16 season, Hoskins played in the Australian Baseball League (ABL) for the Sydney Blue Sox, where he batted .301/.369/.508 with 8 home runs in 49 games.

On August 5, during his 151st career game, he became the fastest Phillie to reach 100 walks, surpassing Don Hurst. On September 18, Hoskins became the seventh-fastest major league player to hit 50 career home runs, doing so in his 192nd career game. Only Rudy York (153), Mark McGwire (161), Gary Sanchez (161), Ryan Braun (171), Aaron Judge (174), and Ryan Howard (182) reached 50 home runs more quickly.

The Philadelphia Phillies selected Hoskins in the fifth round, with the 142nd overall selection, of the 2014 Major League Baseball draft, based on the scouting report by scout Joey Davis and the recommendation by then-scouting director Marti Wolever to then-general manager Ruben Amaro. He signed with the Phillies, receiving a $349,700 signing bonus.

Hoskins spent his first professional season with the Williamsport Crosscutters of the Class A-Short Season New York-Penn League. There, in 2014 he batted .237./.311/.408 with nine home runs (tied for 6th in the league) and 40 RBIs.

On September 14, Hoskins hit his 18th home run, in 34 games with 118 at-bats over 145 plate appearances. He was the fastest player to reach that many home runs in terms of games played in major league history. Five days later, he had four RBIs, for a total of 43 in his first 39 games, which was second only to Albert Pujols, who had 44 RBIs in his first 39 games; Joe DiMaggio had 42. He then hit his 45th RBI in his 41st game; the fastest player in MLB history to have 45 career RBIs (ahead of DiMaggio (43 games) and Ted Williams (44 games)).

Despite not being named an All-Star, Hoskins was named as one of the eight participants in the MLB Home Run Derby. Hoskins entered the Home Run Derby as the 8th and final seed, with a matchup against the 1st seed Jesús Aguilar of the Milwaukee Brewers. Hoskins defeated Aguilar by a score of 17–12. His second round matchup was against Chicago Cubs outfielder Kyle Schwarber. Despite becoming the first player in MLB history to hit 20 home runs in a single round of the Home Run Derby, Hoskins was defeated by Schwarber 21–20 as Schwarber hit a walk-off home run as time expired.

Hoskins was born in Sacramento, California. He attended Jesuit High School in Carmichael, California, graduating in 2011. There, playing baseball as a first baseman, third baseman, and catcher, Hoskins batted .421 as a junior, with a .544 on base percentage and 28 runs batted in. He was named first team all-Delta River League as a junior, and second team as a senior. He also played basketball and football for the school, and earned a 4.0 grade point average.

In 2011, he enrolled at California State University, Sacramento, majoring in business administration; there, he played three seasons of college baseball for the Sacramento State Hornets. The team's coach, Reggie Christiansen, was the only coach to offer Hoskins a scholarship. Hoskins chose to forego some of his scholarship money so that the coach could use it to add a pitcher who was needed by the team. As a freshman he batted .353 with a .567 slugging percentage (both 2nd in the conference), with 10 home runs and 53 runs batted in (RBIs; 3rd), and was named Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year, National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association First Team Freshman All-American, Baseball America First Team Freshman All-American, Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American (Collegiate Baseball Newspaper), All-WAC second team, and Academic All-WAC. In 2013, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod Baseball League, and was named a league all-star. As a junior he hit 12 home runs with 53 RBIs and a .573 slugging percentage (all leading the WAC), while batting .319, and was named WAC Player of the Year, Louisville Slugger Third Team All-American (Collegiate Baseball), Second Team All-West Region (ABCA/Rawlings), First Team All-WAC, and Academic All-WAC.

Hoskins' father, Paul, taught him how to play baseball. His mother, Cathy Reynolds, died of breast cancer in 2009 when he was a sophomore in high school, after battling the disease for 14 years. His father is a lawyer, as was his mother. He has a younger sister named Meloria.

Rhys Dean Hoskins (/r iː s / Reece; born March 17, 1993), is an American professional baseball first baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB). Hoskins played college baseball for the Sacramento State Hornets. He was drafted by the Phillies in the fifth round of the 2014 Major League Baseball draft. Hoskins made his MLB debut in 2017.

Of his first 26 major league games, Hoskins played 20 in left field, even though he had played in the outfield only as a freshman during college and in only three minor league games. On September 12, Hoskins hit his 15th and 16th home runs, in 32 games. On September 13, he hit his 17th home run, in 33 games. He was the fastest player in history, in terms of games played, to hit his ninth through 17th career home runs.

For the season, Hoskins batted .246/.354/.496 with five stolen bases. Hoskins hit 34 home runs (tied for 7th in the NL) with 87 walks and 72 extra base hits (each 7th in the National League), 38 doubles (8th), and 96 RBIs (10th) and 16.4 at-bats-per-home-run (each 10th). He led the NL in pitches/plate appearance (4.42), tied for 2nd in MLB with 18 go-ahead home runs (18), was third in the NL in home runs with two strikes (15), and had the highest fly ball percentage of all major league hitters (51.7%). On defense, he led NL left fielders in errors, with six, and had the lowest Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) rating of all NL left fielders, at -24.

On August 28, in his 19th career game, Hoskins recorded his 25th RBI in the second-fewest games since the statistic began being used in 1920. (in 1925, the Chicago Cubs' Mandy Brooks did so in 17 games.) In the same game, he hit a double and became the third rookie in franchise history to have extra-base hits in six consecutive games, joining Pinky Whitney of the 1928 team and Dick Allen of the 1964 team). His 11 home runs in August were the most by a rookie in a month in Phillies history. Hoskins's record-breaking streak continued on September 2, when he became the fastest player to hit 12 home runs, doing so in only 24 games. Hoskins was named the NL Rookie of the Month in August.