NL East Notes: Turner, Bruce, Braves, Hoskins
The Nationals welcomed Jayson Werth and Max Scherzer back to the roster last night, with both making strong contributions in their win. Today (weather permitting), they’ll see shortstop Trea Turner come off the disabled list as well, giving them another boost down the stretch as they gear up for the NLDS. As Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post writes, that’s just one step closer to whole for a Nats club that has played well through injuries but hasn’t gotten a chance to showcase how formidable it can be with its key lineup pieces and summer bullpen additions all healthy at the same time. Bryce Harper and Ryan Madson are the final major pieces of the puzzle, Svrluga notes, though surely the Nats would also relish the opportunity to add a healthy Koda Glover and Enny Romero to the mix as well.
A few more notes from the National League East…
- Jay Bruce was the focal point of trade rumors and (earlier in his tenure) criticism for much of his time with the Mets, but the slugger tells Dan Martin of the New York Post that he is “absolutely” open to a reunion with the Mets in free agency this winter. Bruce tells Martin that he’s never seen a team as gutted by injuries as the 2017 Mets and still believes the team has the talent to contend in 2018. “I believe the Mets are a team that feels obligated to put a winning group out there, barring any injuries,” says Bruce. “I enjoyed my time in New York. It’s a great group of guys there. The talent’s there. The nucleus is there. We’ll see what happens.”
- The Braves made what appear to be some fairly minor changes in their front office, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subscription required and recommended), but some within the organization wonder if they’re the start to larger alterations. Among the more notable changes, Dom Chiti has moved from director of pitching to farm director, per Rosenthal. Special assistant Dave Wallace will step into Chiti’s former role. Dave Trembley will no longer serve as farm director and will instead be a field coordinator. Many teams make changes to their front office structure and scouting departments around this time, so the exact timing of the moves isn’t a surprise. One club official, though, spoke to Rosenthal about a “power struggle,” rhetorically asking: “Is John Schuerholz running the club or are John Hart and John Coppolella running it?” Rosenthal cites other Braves sources in reporting that Hart refutes the validity of that view. Hart, according to Rosenthal, is expected to return next year (his contract runs through 2017), and the Braves are also expected to eventually hire another exec to work under current Coppolella, who is currently the GM.
- The Phillies still aren’t certain exactly where Rhys Hoskins will play for the remainder of the 2017 season once Aaron Altherr and Odubel Herrera are activated from the disabled list, writes MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki. But, Hoskins’ historic start to his MLB career all but ensures that he’ll be in the lineup on a daily basis down the stretch. Manager Pete Mackanin suggested that he knows fully what Herrera and Altherr are capable of, so Hoskins could get some at-bats at their expense down the stretch. He’ll also be mixed in at first base, though Mackanin suggested that current first baseman Tommy Joseph “is an asset” for the Phils as well. Also of note, Zolecki notes that top prospect J.P. Crawford “is certain” to receive a September call-up, so Phils fans will soon have another look at one of the team’s hopeful core pieces.
- Zolecki focuses on the 2017 season, but the issues that he raises lead to the greater question of Joseph’s future with the team. The Phillies have likely seen enough from Altherr and rookie Nick Williams that they’ll want each to get regular at-bats in the outfield corners next season, thus preventing Hoskins from playing left field. It seems largely inevitable that Hoskins will claim the regular first base role in 2018, barring the trade of a young outfielder this winter, which either makes Joseph himself a trade candidate or pushes him into a bench role.
NL Notes: Hoskins, Phillies, Braves, Brewers
Phillies rookie Rhys Hoskins hit his 10th home run in his 17th major league game Saturday, making him the fastest player in MLB history to reach the double-digit mark. All the more remarkable: Joey Davis, the scout who implored the Phillies to draft Hoskins out of Sacramento State in 2014 (they did, in the fifth round), only saw him as a potential 15- to 20-homer type at best, according to Matt Gelb of Philly.com. Davis was nevertheless bullish on Hoskins, and after the first baseman/outfielder joined the Phillies organization, minor league hitting coordinator Andy Tracy told him to add a leg kick in order to generate more power. Hoskins did, and both that mechanical adjustment and some mental tweaks he made with the help of Double-A Reading hitting coach Frank Cacciatore turned him into the slugger he is today, Gelb explains. “With scouting, it’s a team effort,” said Davis, who Gelb notes is close with Hoskins to this day. “We have to give them good players, and they have to do a good job of coaching. That’s what happens. You have a kid like this who is willing to learn and put in the work. He has the body and the size. So it was worth a shot in the fifth round.”
More from Philadelphia and the National League:
- While Hoskins looks like an excellent find for the Phillies, they still own the majors’ worst record (37-81) and appear to be a long ways from contention. One of the team’s problems this season has been a starting rotation that entered Saturday 23rd in the league in ERA (4.82) and 20th in fWAR (6.5). Manager Pete Mackanin would like to see the front office add outside help to the staff over the winter. “I think we have to upgrade,” Mackanin told reporters, including Ben Harris of MLB.com. Among the Phillies’ young starters, the only locks for rotation spots next year look to be Aaron Nola, Jerad Eickhoff and Vince Velasquez, Harris notes. Veteran reinforcements could be on the way, then, and Mackanin suggested that the Phillies should look for more Jeremy Hellickson types or “try to do even better.”
- Catcher Kurt Suzuki sat on the open market until January before taking a one-year, $2.5MM deal from the Braves last winter, but the production he has posted this season means he could find a deal quicker next offseason, Gabriel Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes. Serving as Tyler Flowers‘ backup, Suzuki has slashed a career-best .268/.342/.546 with 15 home runs in 220 plate appearances, and he credits “always positive” Braves hitting coach Kevin Seitzer for some of his success. Suzuki’s contract status gives him an uncertain future beyond this season, though he informed Burns that he doesn’t necessarily have to be a starter going forward and expressed a willingness to re-sign with the Braves. “Yeah, I don’t see why not,” he said. “It’s a great place. I like all the guys here and stuff. But there’s a lot of factors: family, my kids starting school (in California), proximity to home (Hawaii). There’s a lot of things you can factor in, but you know, this is a place I’ve grown to love.”
- Infielder Jonathan Villar looked like a long-term core piece for the Brewers last year when he slashed .285/.369/.457 with 19 home runs and stole a major league-high 62 bases as a shortstop/third baseman. That performance was good enough for the Brewers to offer Villar $23MM on an extension in the offseason. Villar rejected the Brewers’ proposal, though, and has taken major steps backward this season as a second baseman, having hit .227/.283/.348 with nine homers and 23 steals over 393 PAs. Now, thanks to his sharp decline from 2016 to ’17, the Brewers are unsure of what they have in the 26-year-old Villar, per Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Haudricourt wonders if the Brewers will commit to Villar at the keystone again next year or look elsewhere, as they did when they acquired free agent-to-be Neil Walker from the Mets a couple weeks ago. General manager David Stearns hasn’t made any decisions yet for 2018, but he admits there’s uncertainty regarding Villar. “How do you judge him?” Stearns said. “I think it’s the right question. I just don’t have a good answer for you.”
Phillies Promote Rhys Hoskins
The Phillies have promoted young slugger Rhys Hoskins to the active roster for the first time today, as MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki first reported (via Twitter). It had been anticipated that he’d receive a promotion at some point in the near future, but the precise arrival date was not yet clear.
Hoskins, 24, has raked in obscurity for most of his minor-league career since going to the Phils in the fifth round of the 2014 draft. But prospect evaluators have come around on his future outlook as Hoskins has continued to dominate opposing pitchers into the upper minors. He’s currently considered one of the game’s hundred-best prospects by both Baseball America and MLB.com.
While Hoskins could surely have drawn an earlier call-up, the Phillies were not willing to bump him up in place of fellow young first baseman Tommy Joseph. Instead, the Phils have decided to give Hoskins a run in left field. Whether he can handle the position in the long run remains to be seen, but he’ll get a shot to do so in the majors and will test his bat against top-level pitching — allowing Philadelphia to assess both him and Joseph for the future.
At some point, production is hard to deny. In Hoskins’s case, he has impressed more than ever this year at Triple-A. Over 475 plate appearances, he’s slashing a robust .284/.385/.581 with 29 long balls. That’s impressive in and of itself, but what’s especially encouraging is the fact that he’s walking nearly as much as he’s striking out (13.5% versus 15.8%).
It’ll be interesting to see how Hoskins looks in left and how the Phils handle the logjam over the winter. For now, the rebuilding club will be content watching its top young talent compete in the majors. Several other players have filtered up this year, and long-awaited shortstop J.P. Crawford may not be long in making his own move — depending upon how the organization decides to handle incumbent middle infielders Freddy Galvis and Cesar Hernandez.
Phillies Notes: Franco, Joseph, Hellickson
Here’s the latest on the Phillies, who will be one of the most notable sellers in the market as we approach the trade deadline…
- Maikel Franco is available in trade talks “but the price is high,” CSNPhilly.com’s Jim Salisbury writes. Previous reports suggested that the Phils were looking to move on from Franco, though he has hit better over the last month, so Philadelphia is perhaps looking to recoup more value for the third baseman. Of course, it wasn’t long ago that Franco was a highly-touted prospect who was seen as a potential cornerstone of the Phillies’ rebuild, though he has been below-average at the plate in both 2016 and 2017.
- Also from Salisbury’s piece, it seems like Tommy Joseph will have to be moved so the Phillies can get a look at Rhys Hoskins as the regular first baseman. “They can’t coexist on the same team,” manager Pete Mackanin said. “There is no way I could [get playing time for both]. It wouldn’t be fair to either guy. It wouldn’t be fair to us….If [Hopkins] could play another position, if either one of them could, it would make it easier for me to do. But I don’t think it would help either guy or us to find out about Rhys Hoskins if he is not playing on a regular basis.” Joseph has 36 homers and a .254/.310/.487 slash line in 662 career plate appearances, so between his production, age (26 next week) and five-plus years of team control, he’ll certainly get some attention on the trade market.
- Jeremy Hellickson looks like a sure bet to be traded, and PhillyVoice.com’s Ryan Lawrence looks at the Phillies could receive in a deal for the veteran innings-eater based on past recent deadline deals for somewhat comparable pitchers. The Phils seem likely to eat some or most of Hellickson’s remaining salary in order to receive a better prospect return. Salisbury suggested that the Royals and Mariners could be potential trade suitors for Hellickson, as both teams are looking for low-cost rotation help.