Guardians veteran providing huge hidden benefit as youth movement hits full swing

At face value, it looks like Rhys Hoskins’ tenure with the Guardians has been a bit of a disaster. Although no one was expecting him to put together a career year, he’s on pace for the worst year in pretty much every statistical category and has been worth -0.5 bWAR. 

But his impact this season has gone far beyond the diamond, as both Guardians manager Stephen Vogt and rookie Chase DeLauter told reporters on Sunday that Hoskins has been a huge help as the team has navigated its plethora of big league debuts. 

“(Hoskins) said, ‘I know where I’m at in my career. I know I still have some game left, but I also know that it’s my job to help the young guys and I’m excited to take that on,’” Vogt said on Sunday, per Cleveland.com’s Joe Noga. “And he’s done that and owned it and lived it.”

Rhys Hoskins has made a huge impact in the Guardians’ clubhouse this season

While it can sometimes be a bit scary when a team leans too much into the “clubhouse leader” archetype for a veteran since it can sometimes be used to draw attention away from underperformance, Hoskins’ benefit has been huge considering the Guardians have already had nine players make their MLB debut this season. 

The latest of those debuts came on Friday when the Guardians called up southpaw Cooper Ingle to provide them with some much-needed offensive reinforcement. 

Ingle's call-up made Hoskins even more important given he’s one of the few right-handed hitters on a Guardians team that became even more left-handed heavy after Ingle’s call-up. 

But that also means that it’s on Hoskins to turn things around. He still has a great walk rate (15.5%), but he also has one of the worst expected batting averages in baseball (.168) and has been worth -7 Outs Above Average on defense. 

When Hoskins was at his best with the Phillies, he was able to complement that high walk rate with strong power numbers, but that hasn’t happened with Cleveland. 

That said, he picked up his biggest hit of the year on Sunday with a go-ahead, two-run double in the eighth inning against the Mariners in what Vogt called “as big of a win” the Guardians have had all year. 

He went 1-for-3 against the Rangers on Monday with two strikeouts. 

The one good thing about Hoskins is that the Guardians only committed $1.5 million to him so it’ll be easy for them to cut bait at some point during the season. While his on-field performance may make that decision seem like a no-brainer, he’s clearly been a positive in the clubhouse.

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