The Phillies would be a winning team with Rhys Hoskins. Miss him yet?

Rhys Hoskins wanted to fight. The Phillies could use some of that attitude right now.

When Bryce Harper got hit on the foot in his fourth spring training game as a Phillie, Hoss was hoping Harp would make a move toward Toronto’s Trent Thornton, who would make his major-league debut 16 days later ... if he didn’t have to get his jaw wired. Nothing happened, but Harper took note.

» READ MORE: After Bryce Harper got hit, fuming Phillie Rhys Hoskins ‘had his back’ if he charged the mound | Marcus Hayes

Harper has since won an MVP award and proved himself a postseason stud, but in March, when Hoskins blew out his knee, Harper said, “We call him our captain.”

The Phillies miss their captain. They miss his 148 home runs and his 405 RBIs and his .846 OPS, but, perhaps more than anything, they miss his presence. They have no captain. They have no spokesman.

Entering Friday, the Phillies had lost eight of 11 games. They had scored more than four runs twice in that streak and they had scored one or zero runs nine times in 50 games, about 18% of the time. The Phillies are constructed thus: two excellent starting pitchers and a lineup that’s supposed to pulverize opposing pitching, especially since they play home games in a shoe box.

They’re 23-27. They would be 28-22 if Hoskins was healthy. Five more wins, five fewer losses. They’d be heading to Atlanta, New York, and Washington, D.C., for their second, third, and fourth NL East series of the season as winners. Instead, the next seven days — four in Georgia, three in Queens — could make June a month of desperation.

Hoskins is hurt. He’s healing back home in Sacramento, bearded and bored, hoping to rejoin the club in Philly in two weeks. So why does this matter? It matters because the absence of the guy Phillies fans booed in his first home playoff game, back in October, is the biggest hurdle to their getting back to October.

The Phillies built their pitching staff around Aaron Nola, but they built the lineup around Hoskins. After he hit 34 homers with 96 RBIs on a mismanaged, 80-win team with no protection in 2018, his presence attracted Harper. Harper and Hoskins attracted Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, and Nick Castellanos, and persuaded J.T. Realmuto to re-sign.

It’s incredible to witness. He plays hard. He’s accountable, talented, and productive. Hoskins is the most “Philadelphia” Phillie since Chase Utley and Darren Dalton; matter of fact, he’s kind of a combination of both. He’s no less significant than Eagles stars Jason Kelce or Brian Dawkins, and he’s gotten a lot more out of himself than NBA MVP Joel Embiid.

Hoskins, in Philly, is the most underappreciated athlete since Donovan McNabb.

Come to think of it, Hoskins brings facets McNabb lacked. McNabb was an awkward, inauthentic figurehead. Hoskins is none of that.

» READ MORE: Trea Turner is ‘Philadelphia’s next Chase Utley’ | Marcus Hayes

When it came time to assess the arrival of Gabe Kapler and Joe Girardi and the promotion of Rob Thomson, Hoskins assessed it. When it came time to welcome Harper and Realmuto in 2019, Zack Wheeler in 2020, and Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos in 2022, Hoskins welcomed them. When it came time to discuss the return of Odubel Herrera, who’d been suspended after a domestic violence incident, or the departures of Kapler and Girardi, Hoskins discussed them. Not with us, the press. With you, the fan.

Every winning streak, every losing streak, every issue — Hoskins was the voice of reason, or patience, or urgency.

“In between the lines, of course we miss him,” said general manager Sam Fuld. “To say nothing of what he gives you outside the lines.”

Thomson said on a Wednesday morning radio show that, during spring training, he considered this Phillies roster — one that was assured to be without Harper for at least several weeks, if not months — capable of winning 95 games. Asked if that was with or without Hoskins, he replied, “Rhys makes it a little bit better, for sure.”

Hoskins has made all of his managers’ lives better. He stays among the leaders in pitches seen, averages 94 walks per 162 games, and provides terrifying right-handed power for a team loaded with lefties.

“The walks. The home runs, The pitch selection. The working counts. It’s another grinder at-bat that’s not there anymore,” Thomson said. “And the voice in the clubhouse. The leadership. He’s a big part.”

It’s contagious. Last season the Phillies ranked eight spots above the major-league average in pitches per at-bat. This season they rank one spot below the major-league average.

I was there on March 23 when Hoskins retreated from first base to make a routine play, fell to the ground, and writhed in agony and anger. My heart broke for him, but, as his chief defender over the years, I allowed myself a bit of pettiness:

“Let’s see how much the Hoskins haters miss him now.”

True to his character, Hoskins was so furious and so disappointed that he’d gotten hurt that he refused to speak publicly for 2½ weeks.

I also was there on March 15, 2019, when Hoskins was ready to fight for Harper’s honor. His spunk surprised me. It did not surprise Thomson, the current Phillies manager who was the bench coach on that team.

“He’s really intense. And he really protects his teammates,” Thomson said. “He gets upset.”

He’s not all cherry cheeks and cherub curls and cheery outlook. He’s a top-step chirper, bat spikes, and no bull. Harper once threw his helmet and a punch at Giants pitcher Hunter Strickland and had to be restrained from murdering Jonathan Papelbon when both played for the Nationals, but he’s a pacifist compared with Hoskins.

Hoskins had been a defensive liability, but, last season, according to fielding metrics, he’d worked himself all the way to mediocrity. His 3.1 Wins Above Replacement in 2022 didn’t put him in the MVP conversation, but it was his best score in his 5½ seasons. Metrics cannot measure Hoskins’ complete impact.

He wouldn’t have made Nola or Zack Wheeler any more consistent, but if he was in the lineup there would be far less pressure on Turner and Schwarber, who now are batting .244 and .172, even after Turner’s game-tying, ninth-inning homer that helped avoid a sweep by the visiting Diamondbacks. That’s almost $50 million of futility.

There’s not much you can do about it. Hoskins is making $12 million this season, his last year of arbitration, but he’s worth about $20 million a year, and he’ll get that in his next deal, either in Philadelphia or elsewhere.

The Hoskins haters would lose their minds if Phillies president Dave Dombrowski gave Hoskins five years and $100 million.

They’d rather just keep losing games.