Phillies ‘not ready’ to rule Rhys Hoskins out for the season with arm injury, but time is running short

The Phillies placed Rhys Hoskins on the injured list with an injury to his left ulnar collateral ligament, leaving the team without their hottest hitter for almost the remainder of the regular season.

Hoskins will not be eligible to return until Sept. 23, which is the team’s fourth-to-last game of the season. If Hoskins does return this season, he’ll have to heal quickly.

“Other guys have continued to hit through this,” manager Joe Girardi said of Hoskins' injury. “We basically have to see where he’s at after a few days to see what’s next for Rhys. We’re not ready to say that he’s out for the year. Our hope is that we’ll get him back.”

Phil Gosselin has replaced Hoskins at first base for three straight games, but the team could give Alec Bohm a look this week. He played some first base in the minor leagues and worked there during spring training. The Phillies said Sunday that he was going to play first base before they revised their lineup and moved him to third.

“That’s something that obviously we’re going to have to talk about,” Girardi said. “We have not discussed that, but we’ll definitely talk about what we’re going to do moving forward now that we know Rhys is on the IL for 10 days.”

The Phillies did not place J.T. Realmuto on the injured list, but they will be without him for at least a couple more days. The All-Star catcher felt discomfort in his left hip Saturday night and an MRI on Monday revealed a mild strain of his hip flexor.

“It feels better today than it did yesterday. Yesterday was pretty sore,” Realmuto said after Monday’s 6-2 loss. “I’m not sure exactly the timetable. I’m going to listen to the doctors and the trainers and kind of let them decide that. As long as I keep progressing like I did today, I don’t think it should be too long.”

Realmuto has just 14 regular-season games left before he hits free agency for the first time in his career. If he rushes back, he would be taking a risk that he could reinjure himself and perhaps lower his value on the open market.

“I think they kind of coincide with each other, to be honest,” Realmuto said of balancing the desire to rush back versus knowing the long-term implications. “It doesn’t really benefit the team any for me to get out there before I’m ready. Because all that causes is for me to get out there and make this injury worse and then miss the rest of the season. It’s really in the best interest for me and the rest of the team to be on the same page and wait until this thing is right before I go out there and push anything too much.”

Right-hander Zack Wheeler completed a 41-pitch bullpen session and could be in line to start this week against the Mets after ripping a fingernail on his pitching hand last week while putting on a pair of jeans.

Girardi said the Phillies will wait to see how Wheeler feels on Tuesday, but they expect him to start one of the next three games.

“He seemed to feel pretty good,” Realmuto said. “I don’t want to give away too much, but one of his pitches didn’t feel too great, so he might not use that certain pitch too much. But everything else, he said, felt really good.”

Rafael Marchan, who made his major-league debut as the starting catcher, was the youngest Phillies catcher to start a game since Joe “Socks” Holden in 1934. Marchan, who is 21, singled in his first at-bat. ... Jake Arrieta will start Tuesday’s series opener at Citizens Bank Park against Mets right-hander Rick Porcello.