Rhys Hoskins now has 33 major-league games under his belt—more than 140 plate appearances—which means that Rhys Hoskins has had a little time to back away from his freakishly hot start and begin looking more like the ordinary prospect people thought he was. But he hasn’t.
Hoskins hit his 17th home run tonight in the Phillies’ 8-1 win over the Marlins, becoming the fastest player in MLB history to reach that mark. (No other rookie has had more than 12 in his first 33 games.) With three runs batted in—he also had a sac fly, a single and a walk tonight—Hoskins joined the trio of Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio and Zeke Bonura as the fastest rookies ever to reach 37 RBIs. He entered tonight batting .298/.424/.754 (seven-fifty-four), which means that he’s been nearly twice as good as the average National League hitter this season, with a wRC+ of 197.
It won’t last forever. But it’s fun as hell to watch while it’s happening. Miami manager Don Mattingly summed up the best strategy for stopping him right now pretty well tonight—no one can.