Phillies Stock Report: Hot, Hot, Hoskins

The streak might be over, but the vibes live on. The Philadelphia Phillies have now won 11 of 13 games in June as they begin their ascent over .500. As Scott Franzke said in his incredible call of Garrett Stubbs’ walk-off home run, there’s a different hero every night. They now head to Washington for a chance to climb even higher over .500 with five games against the last-place Nationals. 

Stock Up

Rhys Hoskins

When Hoskins is cold, he’s ice cold. When he’s hot, he’s scorching. Hoskins is in the midst of one of his hot streaks, as he’s 14 for 28 (.500) over the last week with eight extra-base hits and four home runs. Overall, Hoskins is hitting .365 in June with an OPS of 1.219. He also picked up his first career walk-off hit on Monday with a single in the bottom of the ninth against the Marlins. The next night, Hoskins homered twice in a losing effort but did collect six RBIs and gave the Phillies the lead with a homer in the eighth. It’s no coincidence the Phillies have been winning while Hoskins has been on fire.

Didi Gregorious

Gregorious has been a pleasant surprise since being reactivated from the injured list. In nine games since returning on June 5th, Gregorious is hitting .313 with an OPS of .768. He hasn’t hit for much power, but he has collected numerous big hits with runners in scoring position and two outs. Gregorious entered Wednesday hitting .353 with a .918 OPS and six RBIs in such situations. He looks much more like the 2020 version of himself that finished with a 120 OPS+ rather than the 2021 version that finished with an OPS+ of 73. 

Garrett Stubbs

Sorry in advance to everyone clamoring for Stubbs to start over J.T. Realmuto. That’s just not going to happen. However, that doesn’t mean that Stubbs shouldn’t receive more playing time. Stubbs has done everything asked of a backup catcher and more. He blasted a three-run, walk-off home run with two outs on Wednesday to save the Phillies from another embarrassing series loss to the Marlins. In 15 games this season, Stubbs is hitting .342 with an OPS of 1.116 with all three of his career home runs. 

Connor Brogdon

Brogdon has been a patch of positivity in a rough week for the Phillies’ bullpen. The right hander owns a 1.50 ERA across six appearances in June. Brogdon hasn’t allowed a run in 11 of 13 appearances since April and has yet to walk a batter in June. He’s pitched his way into a setup role in the back of the Phillies bullpen. 

Kyle Gibson

Gibson had arguably his best start of the season on Wednesday. He delivered eight innings of one run ball the day after the Phillies lost a game because of their bullpen. It was a huge bounce back game for Gibson after posting a 4.85 ERA in five starts prior and a 7.71 ERA in two previous June starts. His only blemish was a home run allowed to notorious Phillie killer Miguel Rojas. Gibson exited the game after eight innings and 89 pitches down 1-0 due to a scuffling Phillies offense, but Garrett Stubbs made sure his effort wasn’t wasted. 

Stock Down

Corey Knebel

Knebel was officially demoted out of the closer’s role before Wednesday’s game against Miami. It came after he was charged with two runs on a hit and two walks in a blown save Tuesday night. The defense committed an error, but Knebel still threw just 4 total strikes out of 20 pitches. He has struggled all season with allowing baserunners, especially on free passes. Knebel’s walk percentage is 14.4%, seventh worst among all relievers. He has the worst win probability added for a relief pitcher at -2.3. The next closest is Mark Melancon at -1.6 WPA. 

Jeurys Familia

If Knebel has been bad, Familia has been terrible. The former Mets closer has an ERA of 4.50 through 25 appearances and a 7.06 ERA across his last seven. Familia hasn’t been able to throw strikes with any consistency whatsoever and has been hit hard with a whopping 54.4 hard hit percentage and .459 expected slugging percentage. In 13 high leverage appearances, Familia has allowed 11 runs and opponents have a .345/.424/.690 batting line against him. He entered the game Tuesday in a low leverage situation with an 8-4 lead, but quickly turned it into a high leverage one after two walks and a three-run home run. Signing Familia was questionable at best at the time. It’s a full-on disaster now. 

J.T. Realmuto

Realmuto’s miserable season continues as he’s hitting .208 with an OPS of .536 over his last seven games. He’s hitting just .227 with an OPS of .627 in 12 games played in June. Realmuto has been particularly brutal with runners in scoring position, slashing just .216/.276/.275 in 58 plate appearances with three double plays entering Wednesday. Realmuto has struggled defensively as well, dropping a double play ball that led to a three-run first inning in Sunday’s 13-1 loss to the Diamondbacks. He also dropped a pop-up in the ninth on Tuesday that led to a double that gave the Marlins a two-run lead. Realmuto won’t be flat-out benched, but it’s time to cut back on his high volume of starts as he’s actively hurting the team right now. 

Mickey Moniak

Moniak was sent down to Triple A on Tuesday after slashing just .160/.250/.160 at the Major League level following his return from a broken hand. The former first overall pick looked utterly lost at the plate with a 37.9 K%. Pitchers have eaten him alive with breaking pitches, especially low and inside. Seven of Moniak’s 11 strikeouts on the season have come on breaking pitches with a whiff percentage of 63.2. It’s true that Moniak has yet to be given any real chance to prove himself at the MLB level as he has just 84 career plate appearances at the big-league level. But he hasn’t exactly earned a longer leash either, as he’s not having productive at-bats and has yet to prove in any meaningful way that he can hit MLB pitching.