Categories: Phillies Beat with Destiny Lugardo

Rhys Hoskins talks playoff memories, team confidence heading into 2023

Rhys Hoskins is one of the longest-tenured players on the Phillies. (Don Otto/PhilliesNation)

There’s something refreshing about not having the longest playoff drought in the National League.

When Rhys Hoskins received his first invite to major league spring training in 2017, the streak stood at six years with little to no expectation that it will end anytime soon.

Homegrown players like Hoskins, who represented hope after a long and grueling rebuild, were under the most pressure. It reached an apex when the Phillies embarked on a 10-game roadtrip at the end of the season with the goal of returning home for the first playoff game in Philadelphia since 2011.

“[Rob Thomson] told us at the beginning of the last road trip last year, ‘Look getting in is going to be the hardest part,'” Hoskins said in Clearwater, Florida last week. “I think we’ve felt that. I think we showed that at least with the way that we’ve played in the postseason.”

Getting in turned out to be transformative. Thomson said during the NLCS that he was surprised at just how much more calm his group was now that the September swoon was behind them.

With an improved roster and success from the prior season to build on, that calmness is staying with them.

“I think there’s just a different confidence,” Hoskins said. “At least in my career, I spent so much time in the ‘We hope. We hope. We think. We think we can get there. We feel like we have the players.’ I think we graduated to the ‘We know.’ Just that belief. I can feel that, at least relative to year’s past. That’s just a good place to be because so much of baseball is just confidence and belief in yourself.”

Speaking of belief, Hoskins’ first postseason was a whirlwind. He began the postseason 0-for-11 and had to find a way to move forward after a miscue on a ground ball proved to be the game-winning run for Atlanta in Game 2 of the NLDS. Thomson, following the loss, said he believed Hoskins was close to breaking out of his slump since he was “lofting a lot of balls.”

Hoskins focused on his excitement to get back home for Game 3 as a way to put his struggles behind him.

“It’s easy to say. It’s hard to do,” Hoskins said. “I just kept trying to tell myself that physical stuff like that happens. I think it’s more impressive when guys can pick themselves back up. I mean, I’ve talked about this a lot too. I just knew moments were coming.”

The best moment of his career, a three-run home run and the bat spike that followed it against Spencer Strider, was coming.

“That’s what happens in the playoffs. I’ve been a fan of the game for a long time,” Hoskins said. “I’ve watched many playoff games. One swing, one pitch, one play can really change a narrative, a game, a series, the season, at that point. I just tried to stay ready for the moments that were coming because they were.

“I think just that stubbornness of trying to be ready for those was what allowed me to not be looking over my shoulder at what happened.”

More were coming. Hoskins had only four hits during the NLCS, but they were all home runs. He hit two in the Phillies’ Game 4 comeback and his two-run blast in the third inning of Game 5 opened the scoring and made it possible for Bryce Harper to have “the swing of his life” a few innings later.

Like everyone else, Hoskins spent time during the offseason rewatching the highlights.

“Obviously, I can look back and remember the experiences, but even just the way that it looked, from an outside perspective, it just looked like we were kids playing a game,” Hoskins said.

But in order to get back, the Phillies will have to go through the gauntlet that is the NL East in 2023. Despite the deep run, the Phillies are looked at as a team who won 87 games in the regular season who still have a lot to prove when stacked up against the Braves and Mets.

Is it discouraging to fall two wins short of a World Series title and have to go through the grind of a 162-game season just to give yourself another chance to go as far as you did? It could be, but the Phillies are looking forward to the challenge. Maybe that’s the beauty of it.

“I think you just keep looking forward,” Hoskins said. “Postseason baseball is just a fun thing. Something that I never obviously experienced, but now having played it, I think it makes you want it more.”