Stairs: Hoskins Takes The Same Swing Every Single Time

Rhys Hoskins has made a big time first impression as his Nine Home Runs through his first 16 games is the most of any player in MLB history.  But he is hitting more than Home Runs - Hoskins has tallied 16 RBI, 11 Walks and a .412 On Base Percentage in his first 16 games in a Phillies big league uniform.  He has done all of this playing in Left Field while his normal position is First Base.

Phillies Hitting Coach Matt Stairs joined The Locker Room with Billy Schweim on Saturday and talked about Rhys Hoskins' hot bat:

"He's an awfully good hitter, he's put up some great numbers in the Minor Leagues and we've seen what he's done up here....I'm going to break this one down for you: he takes the same swing and the same path every single time, he doesn't try to over swing, he doesn't swing to make contact, he just has such a great load up on the backside lifting that foot up a little bit, recognizing pitches.  And he's doing what home run hitters are supposed to do, when pitchers are making mistakes he's crushing them, which is nice to see.  Sometimes younger guys will get in there and will see a pitch coming down the middle, it's a hanging Curveball or it's a flat Fastball coming in the middle of the plate, then they'll gear up a little bit and foul it straight back.  Well one thing that Hoskins is doing is that he is taking that same swing, knowing that the point of contact is where the you want to hit the baseball and that's why he's done very well over the last couple years and the start of his big league career."

Hear what Stairs had to say about the Phillies other young hitters and the guys walk down memory lane with Matt to the 2008 Phillies World Series Championship season