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Scott Boras lays out case for why Phillies should sign Rhys Hoskins to long-term deal

Rhys Hoskins can become a free agent after the 2023 season. (Randy Litzinger/Icon Sportswire)

Unless the Philadelphia Phillies re-sign him in the interim, Aaron Nola will be one of the crown jewels in a loaded pitching market next offseason.

He isn’t, however, the only key cog of the 2022 National League Champions set to reach free agency next winter.

Rhys Hoskins — the longest-tenured position player on the Phillies — is set to hit the open market for the first time in his career after the 2023 season. If not the Phillies, the slugger will have plenty of other suitors in free agency.

From Bryce Harper to Taijuan Walker, the Phillies have signed plenty of Scott Boras clients to lucrative deals over the last half decade. Boras says that his next client that John Middleton, Dave Dombrowski and the Phillies ink to a long-term pact should be Hoskins.

“Philadelphia is about excellence, that’s what they are,” Boras told Rob Kuestner of NBC 10.

“Rhys’ leadership … [he’s] just a cog in the middle of the lineup … [and what] you gotta remember is Rhys is a young guy … a young guy. And so age wise, when you look at the contracts that exist here for their sluggers, they’ll have maybe a couple years left, and Rhys still will have longevity in his career that might go eight or nine years.

“And so you look at that and say ‘Does he fit?’ Well he fits certainly in the short term, but really in the long-term dynamic he certainly fits in the core of this lineup, because guess what? You’re gonna always need that … how many guys can go out and do 30 [home runs and], 90 [RBIs]? 35, 100? Who has that capacity to do that? And Rhys falls into that category.”

Hoskins is coming off of a season where he slashed .246/.332/.462 with 30 home runs, 79 RBIs, 72 walks and a .794 OPS. While he had some valleys in his first postseason run, Hoskins also had plenty of peaks, homering six times and driving in 12 runs during an improbable run to the World Series.

It is also true, as Boras mentioned, that Hoskins and Kyle Schwarber are arguably the strongest clubhouse presences for the Phillies. While Harper, Nola, J.T. Realmuto and Zack Wheeler are probably the four best players on the Phillies, it’s often Hoskins who interacts with the media and public as the face of the team. During the postseason run, Harper referred to Hoskins as “The Captain.”

The question for Hoskins may not be whether the Phillies would like to keep his presence in the organization, but whether giving him a long-term deal makes sense given the long-term outlook of the team.

Hoskins will turn 30 in March. Harper, Realmuto, Trea Turner, Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber are all signed well into their 30s already.

While the Phillies will point out that Hoskins has worked diligently to improve defensively at first base — and actually did tie a career-high with three defensive runs saved in 2022 — he far too often makes key mistakes in the field.

Hoskins may not be someone that needs to DH 162 games a year, but he would probably be best suited to DH on at least a part-time basis. With Harper, Castellanos and Schwarber all signed for the foreseeable future, it’s hard to imagine Hoskins ever being able to DH that much for the Phillies.

Clients of Boras typically test free agency, and that may be the best scenario for all parties involved. Perhaps a team or two will be willing to give Hoskins an offer he can’t refuse, in which case the Phillies can collect draft compensation after he declines a qualifying offer. Pivoting to a Josh Bell-type in free agency

wouldn’t be the worst thing. But if Hoskins can be re-signed for a José Abreu type deal where he gets a high average annual value for three or four years, perhaps that’s something the Phillies will pounce on, regardless of how their roster is built.

For his part, Boras says it’s important to remember that Hoskins has already proven he can handle the trials and tribulations of playing in Philadelphia.

“And we have to remember this — some people can’t play in Philadelphia,” Boras noted. “Some people can’t play in major markets. And you already know that you have someone like Rhys who can. And I think you need to take those things seriously, because a lot of players who have a lot of skill can come here and not be effective. And when you have a proven commodity in a major market like this, you have to really do your best to hold onto them.”