Sometimes, you gotta make the tough call to put the old steer out to pasture.
Rhys Hoskins has a 95 wRC+ this season. That, especially on the Guardians, is not bad. However, this includes a 79 wRC+ since June 1st, during which time he has struck out 37% of the time. Even more prominently, since June 1st of LAST season, Hoskins has a 57 wRC+ against LHP. Why has Hoskins forgotten how to hit southpaws on a team that needs him to be able to be the career 130 wRC+ against them he has traditionally been
like no other? I don’t know. Because the baseball gods hate us, probably. It’s likely one of two options: 1. small sample size and he’ll eventually correct things, or 2. the canary in the coal mine that he is washed overall.
Regardless, Hoskins isn’t helping the Cleveland Guardians win baseball games in his current role of supposed lefty masher who plays first base when LHP are on the mound. He’s not a good defender. But, he is, from all accounts, great in the clubhouse. So great that the team is a game under .500 on August 8th. You can probably sense my skepticism that his clubhouse skills are indispensible to this team’s success.
I think it’s probably time to give Kody Huff a chance at a platoon first-base/occasional catching reps role. Huff has a .793 OPS against LHP and .914 OPS against RHP this season, but has traditionally hit LHP better than RHP as most RHH’s do. Most importantly, he has a higher OPS away from the Columbus bandbox than at home (.888/.879). Zach Meisel of the Athletic has repeatedly mentioned on the Selby is Godcast that the team “LOVES” Huff and it was a big reason they were willing to trade Jacob Cozart and Bo Naylor at the trade deadline. Great opportunity to potentially get Huff some experience with Austin Hedges and Patrick Bailey and make use of the 235 innings he has played at first base to hopefully leverage their way to an improvement over what Hoskins has done against left-handed pitching.
By September, if Huff struggles and Ralphy Velazquez continues his recent breakout, I would love to see the team give Velazquez reps in a first base/DH role and let him hit LHP. (Cooper Ingle cannot hit lefties, in case anyone is wondering about him in a full-time DH role). Ralphy has consistently hit LHP slightly better than he has RHP over the past two seasons. He’s a full-time hitter, eventually, and it would be great to give him a chance to experience big league pitching and potentially help a team trying to make the playoffs. But, for now, the team needs to take a shot at improving their roster in the Hoskins’ role, even at the risk to clubhouse chemistry, and Huff seems to be the best potential option.
