Phillies

Recapping Rhys Hoskins’ Impressive Home Run Derby Performance

By Bob Wankel

Published: Jul 17th, 2018 · 1:04 AM EDT

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Rhys Hoskins entered last night’s Home Run Derby without having gone deep since June 29 when he took Washington Nationals pitcher Erick Fedde out of the yard in the fifth inning of an ugly 17-7 loss. In fact, Hoskins has not homered in his last 70 plate appearances, so it was little surprise that he was an underdog in the opening round of the event to No.1 seed Jesus Aguilar of the Milwaukee Brewers. No matter:

Rhys Hoskins putting on a display at the Home Run Derby. pic.twitter.com/lW37UleGDd

— Brendan Campbell (@brendan_camp) July 17, 2018

Mike Trout, Hoskins’ future teammate, seemed impressed:

Hoskins 👀!!! #wow

— Mike Trout (@MikeTrout) July 17, 2018

You know who else was into it? Manny Machado:

https://twitter.com/LONG_DRIVE/status/1019016919284936704

https://twitter.com/FlyEaglesFly_43/status/1019016010270158848

Hoskins’ 17 homers were enough to knock off Aguilar and set up an entertaining second round showdown with Kyle Schwarber of the Chicago Cubs. While Hoskins was up for the challenge, his 20 homers weren’t enough as Schwarber eliminated the Phillies outfielder on his final swing of the round:

https://twitter.com/enlacanchapr/status/1019044472225718272

But it was Bryce Harper, in front of the home crowd, who ultimately stole the show with a furious final round finish, outlasting Schwarber on his way to becoming the 2018 Home Run Derby Champion:

Bryce Harper switched into BEAST MODE for the last 30 seconds of his final round! #SCtop10 pic.twitter.com/0va6KsWadb

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) July 17, 2018

Just remember:

Owner John Middleton has emerged as a driving force in Philly. He's very aggressive and has no reservations about spending money. This is hard to fathom, but I've talked to people who think he might try to sign both Bryce Harper and Manny Machado as free agents this winter. https://t.co/kT9jzpul9M

— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) July 15, 2018