Aaron Nola remains as the Phillies lone All-Star representative, but now the Philly Phaithful have something else to look forward to. Last night the 8 players were announced with their seeding for the T Mobile Home Run Deby. Jesús Aguilar, Bryce Harper, Max Muncy, Alex Bregman, Kyle Schwarber, Javier Baez, Freddie Freeman, and of course Rhys Hoskins, in that order. This will be the youngest derby ever with Freddie Freeman (28) being the elder statesman. Everyone in Philadelphia will be excited to see Rhys Hoskins light up the night in Washington, but you can’t help but feel that something is missing from this derby.
There are 7 National League participants and only 1 American League representative.
There are 13 players in the American League with 20 or more home runs AND NONE are in the Home Run Derby.
The top 5 home run hitters in the MLB will be not be represented in the derby.
J.D. Martinez (28), José Ramírez (27), Aaron Judge (25), Francisco Lindor (25), Mike Trout (25), will not make an appearance in the derby.
Rhys Hoskins will be entering the derby with only 14 home runs.There are currently 68 other players with 14 or more home runs this season, including 2 other Phillies Carlos Santana (14) and Odúbel Herrera (16). I’m not saying that it won’t be a special night for Phillies fans. No one has represented the Phillies in the Home Run Derby since Ryan Howard in 2009 when he finished 3rd with 15 home runs.
Rhys Hoskins lit the world on fire last August when he became the fastest hitter to reach career home runs 9 through 17. On June 27th, Hoskins became the fastest player in Phillies history to hit 30 career home runs, doing so in 120 games. While Hoskins only has 14 home runs, he did miss a few games earlier in the year after breaking his jaw on a foul ball. He’s played in 82 games at the time of this writing.
With only 14 home runs before the break, Hoskins joins a short list of players with 14 or less to participate in the derby. The list includes Hubie Brooks in 1986 (14 HRs in 85 games), Chris Sabo in 1991 (12 HRs in 75 games), and Hee-Seop Choi in 2005 (13 HRs in 78 games).
Hoskins will face Jesús Aguilar in the opening round of the Home Run Derby July 16th at 8 PM.
Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
