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Fantasy baseball: 5 second half trends to believe, 5 lies

By Benjamin Chase

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 28: David Price #24 of the Boston Red Sox delivers the pitch during the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game Five of the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium on October 28, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 28: David Price #24 of the Boston Red Sox delivers the pitch during the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game Five of the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium on October 28, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /
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PHILADELPHIA, PA – SEPTEMBER 28: Rhys Hoskins #17 of the Philadelphia Phillies hits a home run against the Atlanta Braves during the ninth inning of a game at Citizens Bank Park on September 28, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Braves won 10-2. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /

You can trust Rhys for power

His season seemed to slip under the radar, as much as a 34 home run season can fly under the radar. Of course, with the power in the game, that is much more feasible in today’s game.

Hoskins struggled mightily with constant moving in the outfield, and after displaying very good defense at first base in 2017, the Phillies signed Carlos Santana to handle first, meaning Hoskins would find his way to the outfield. The move was a mess, to say the least.

First, Hoskins does have the arm and even the instincts that if he was left alone in the outfield for a full season, he could at least become a league-average defensive outfielder. However, he’s part of the Phillies, and that meant working through some fairly incredible outfield shifting by manager Gabe Kapler during the course of the season, much of which meant Hoskins really never got a chance to get used to his defensive outfield position.

If this piece were in place last offseason, Hoskins would have been on it as well after powering out 18 home runs in just 50 games, leaving questions as to his potential in the next season.

Hoskins struggled to settle into his spot in the lineup in the first half, but a .311 BABIP propped up his numbers enough to hide that. In spite of nearly a 90-point drop in BABIP to the second half, Hoskins had 70 more points in OPS.

Hoskins was one of only 3 players in baseball in 2018 that hit 20 home runs in the second half. What was most impressive was that Hoskins didn’t just power out home runs, he also had a similar walk and strikeout rate to eventual NL MVP Christian Yelich in the second half, as he walked 12.4% of the time and struck out an incredible 19.7% of the time.

For a slugger to keep his strikeout rate that low leads to very positive feelings for what he could do in 2019. Only three players hit 40 home runs in 2018, and Hoskins absolutely should be one who tops that number in 2019.

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