Philadelphia Phillies stars Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber spoke about the team losing teammate and first baseman Rhys Hoskins due to a torn ACL.
The Philadelphia Phillies were over a week away from the start of their 2023 season, looking for a chance to win the World Series after falling two wins short of accomplishing it last year. But in a spring training, first baseman Rhys Hoskins suffered a non-contact knee injury when attempting to field a baseball, forcing him to be carted off. It was determined that Hoskins had torn his ACL, and that he is expected to be out for the season.
It was tough news for the Phillies, considering Hoskins had been up with the Phillies since 2017.
During an appearance on “WIP Middays with Hugh Douglas and Joe Giglio” on Audacy’s SportsRadio 94 WIP (Philadelphia), Phillies outfielder Kyle Schwarber spoke about Hoskins’ injury, calling it “unfortunate.”
Comments come at the 1:52 mark in the audio clip linked above.
“Obviously, it’s unfortunate. You hate seeing the non-contact injuries and things like that, especially an ACL, for a guy who put himself in a really good position coming into this year. He felt really good with his swing and was looking really good in the spring. Going into the final year of (his contract) and things like that, it was a big year for him,” said Schwarber. “It just stinks, and it stinks for the team too. You’re losing the guy who has been through it all. The guy who has seen the ups, seen the downs, a lot of downs, and been through it all and stuck with it, the city loves the guy, and we love the guy in the clubhouse, and what he means to us is hard to replace. But we’re going to have some guys that step up, but yeah, man, it sucks, but I know he’s going to kill the rehab.”
Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner comment on Rhys Hoskins’ injury
New Phillies shortstop Trea Turner also made an appearance on “WIP Middays with Hugh Douglas and Joe Giglio,” on Audacy’s SportsRadio 94 WIP (Philadelphia), saying that even though he had been with the team for a short period of time, he could tell how much of an impact Hoskins had on the team in the clubhouse.
Comments come at the 1:35 mark at the link above.
“It sucks, man. I’ve only been here, what, three or four weeks, but you can see he’s one of the leaders of this clubhouse. He’s our rep when it comes to CBA stuff. He’s put a lot of effort into this organization. He’s been here a long time, and I think this was his free-agent year,” said Turner. “Everything going into this just sucks for him, and we feel so bad. He was going to be a huge part of our team, obviously. You hate to see it. You hate to see it happen to anybody but definitely him. We were bummed. We were all texting him yesterday, trying to make him feel better and do everything we can to just be there for him. But it’s just a bad situation.”
Just last year, Hoskins played a role in the team making a run all the way to the World Series for the first time since 2009. Hoskins recorded six home runs, four of which took place in the National League Championship Series against the San Diego Padres. Those six homers were tied with outfielders Bryce Harper and Schwarber for most on the team during the postseason. He also recorded 12 RBI, which was second-most on the team, behind Harper’s 13.
As Schwarber and Turner noted, Hoskins was entering the final year of arbitration. He was set to earn $12 million for the 2023 season then become an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career after this upcoming campaign.
It was tough news for the Phillies to receive, just days before they were begin their National League championship defense tour, as evidenced by Schwarber’s and Turner’s comments. With Hoskins likely out for the year, it will be Darick Hall set to start at first for the Phillies, barring a trade.