If you had “Bryce Harper replaces Rhys Hoskins as the team’s first baseman” on your 2023 Phillies Bingo card, congratulations. Go buy a Mega Millions ticket tonight.
Sitting here in early August, no one could have predicted Hoskins would tear his ACL in spring training the year before hitting free agency, or that Harper would return from his Tommy John surgery two months ahead of schedule and then learn how to play first base in the span of two months while rehabbing from that surgery. And yet, with the Phillies at 61-51 heading into a four-game series against the last place Washington Nationals this week, Harper is looking extremely comfortable at first as Rhys continues his rehabilitation.