Rhys Hoskins Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

The Phillies announced that first baseman Rhys Hoskins underwent a successful Tommy John surgery to repair a torn UCL in his left elbow last week. He’s expected to be sidelined for four to six months.

It’s an unfortunate development for the 27-year-old. Recovery from this procedure isn’t as severe for a position player as it would be for a pitcher, but both player and team were surely hoping he wouldn’t need to go under the knife.

Before going down with the forearm injury that ended his season, Hoskins had a strong year at the plate. He hit .245/.384/.503 over 185 plate appearances, a marked improvement in the on-base and power departments over his 2019 campaign. He’s also in line for a substantial raise, as he’ll go through the arbitration process for the first time this winter. As a middle-of-the-order fixture, Hoskins should remain quite a bargain from a contractual standpoint.

The four-to-six month timetable opens up the possibility Hoskins won’t be available out of the gate next season. It’d take his coming in at the early end of that recovery timetable to have an uninterrupted spring training. As far as recent precedents go, Yankees outfielder Aaron Hicks underwent the same procedure last October and would not have been ready to return until June. Notably, however, Hicks’ procedure was on his throwing arm (Hoskins’ is not) and initially called for a more significant eight-to-ten month recovery timeline.