Most indispensable Phillies: After losing Rhys Hoskins, they can’t afford more injuries, especially to these five

Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, and J.T. Realmuto walked back into the Phillies’ spring training clubhouse Thursday morning, each having returned from the World Baseball Classic in one piece. And after two weeks of wood-knocking and finger-crossing, team officials were finally able to exhale.

It must have been nice for the few hours that it lasted.

Because two innings after Turner, Schwarber, and Realmuto went back into the lineup for manager Rob Thomson, another pillar of the offense dropped out. Rhys Hoskins twisted awkwardly while backing up to field a chopper behind first base. He collapsed to the turf, clutching his left knee, and got carted off the field.

» READ MORE: How do the Phillies replace Rhys Hoskins at first base and in the lineup?

The diagnosis — torn anterior cruciate ligament — confirmed the team’s initial fears. Hoskins will undergo reconstructive surgery, his season over before it began. And the Phillies will have a 30-homer, 100-RBI hole on the right side of the plate to augment the few months of lost production from the left side while Bryce Harper recovers from offseason elbow surgery.

Back to that in a moment. First, let’s put Hoskins’ predicament — and his significance to the Phillies — into perspective.

It’s devastating for the homegrown slugger, a survivor from the rebuilding years and the lone member of the Phillies’ position-player core who isn’t signed beyond this season. Hoskins, who turned 30 last week, will make $12 million this year through salary arbitration before becoming eligible for free agency. The timing couldn’t be worse for a serious injury.

Hoskins is a frequent target of fans’ frustration because he tends to be maddeningly streaky. That’s undeniable. But so is this: Seven players have had four seasons of at least 25 home runs and a 110 adjusted OPS since 2018, and Hoskins is one of them, joining Aaron Judge, Manny Machado, Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, Matt Olson, and Schwarber.

Good company, no?

“I know it’s looked a little up and down throughout the years, or at least within each season,” Hoskins, unfailingly candid, said last year. “But if you can stand back and look at it from a bird’s-eye [view], to be able to provide a power bat in a lineup is something that I take pride in.”

Hoskins is as popular among teammates as he is underappreciated by the masses. Left-hander Bailey Falter described him to reporters as “basically the mayor of Philadelphia.” Turner called him “one of our leaders.” Thomson noted the calming influence that Hoskins has over the clubhouse.

» READ MORE: Rhys Hoskins’ torn ACL gives Nick Castellanos a chance to prove his $100 million worth

“That’s a big piece of what we’re doing, a big piece in this clubhouse,” Schwarber told reporters before the gravity of Hoskins’ injury was known. “If that guy is going to miss time, it’s a hard one to fill in.”

The Phillies have options. Darick Hall will step in at first base, according to president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. Against left-handed pitching, Alec Bohm could move to first base and Edmundo Sosa could play third.

And the Phillies don’t have to look far for proof that they can overcome a long-term injury to a core player. Remember last summer, when Harper broke his thumb and missed two months? They went 32-20 and climbed back into the wild-card race without him — and he was the reigning National League MVP.

“No matter what happens with our club, I mean, you’re going to have some injuries during the course of the year, and our club finds a way to pick up the pieces and move forward,” Thomson said. “That’s what we did last year. And we’ll continue to do that.”

But “next man up” becomes a more challenging concept when injuries are stacked on top of one another. The Phillies lost Hoskins while Harper is already out. On the pitching side, lefty starter Ranger Suárez is unlikely to open the season on time because of lingering elbow inflammation, while 19-year-old phenom Andrew Painter has been shut down from throwing since March 1 with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.

The depth of a $250 million roster is being tested already.

So, with Hoskins gone for the season and Harper still expected to miss a few months, which hard-to-replace Phillies players are now even more indispensable? Let’s count down the top five.

It’s true that the Phillies went to the World Series without a .300-hitting All-Star shortstop who possesses elite speed and 25-homer power. They also have at least two other infielders (Bryson Stott and Edmundo Sosa) who have previously been everyday shortstops and could fill in at the position if necessary.

But the Phillies also signed Turner to be a difference-maker, not an add-on, for a pennant-winning roster.

» READ MORE: Phillies’ Trea Turner, the WBC’s brightest star, makes his high school coach flash back to the beginning

The $300 million man is a top-of-the-order catalyst unlike any the Phillies have had since ... when? Jimmy Rollins? Turner’s impact might even be heightened by the new rules that are expected to create more action on the bases. He makes the Phillies less homer-dependent, which is saying something considering he just tied a record for the most homers in a World Baseball Classic.

But the Phillies figure to hit fewer balls out of the park overall sans Hoskins and Harper, so finding different ways to score runs will be paramount.

Schwarber happened to be sitting in an interview room before the WBC final the other day when someone remarked about the ease with which White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson seemed to adapt to playing second base for Team USA in the tournament.

“It’s definitely not easy changing positions,” said Schwarber, self-deprecating as ever. “I think everyone saw that when I was in Boston [in 2021] playing, trying to play first base. That sucked.”

Cue the laughter.

» READ MORE: Why Bryson Stott, Alec Bohm, and Brandon Marsh are keys to the Phillies’ making a big jump in 2023

OK, so the Phillies probably won’t ask Schwarber to co-opt Hoskins’ unused mitt. Not only did he struggle to learn first base on the fly with the Red Sox, but the Phillies lack an obvious everyday replacement for him in left field.

But Schwarber did lead the National League last season with 46 homers, more than any player in baseball except Judge and 22% of the Phillies’ overall total of 205. It’s probably unfair to expect him to duplicate that output. But the Phillies’ main power source has to come from somewhere until Harper gets back. Schwarber has as much brute strength as anyone in baseball.

Wheeler missed a month down the stretch last season with right forearm tendinitis, and well, the Phillies hardly missed a beat. They went 14-11 while he was out, including 4-1 with Falter on the mound in his place.

But it helped, too, to have Nola at full strength and pitching every five days.

For as much as the Phillies are built to outslug their opponents, the strength of the roster remains the 1-2 punch of Nola and Wheeler atop the rotation. It’s their answer to the Mets’ tandem of Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, the Braves’ duo of Max Fried and Spencer Strider, the Dodgers’ combination of Julio Urías and Clayton Kershaw, and Brewers co-aces Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff.

» READ MORE: Inside the training routine that makes the Phillies’ Aaron Nola baseball’s most durable pitcher

Nola has two top-five Cy Young Award finishes since 2018; Wheeler was the runner-up to Burnes in a close vote in 2021. They’re elite. And they provide as much quantity as quality. Since 2018, Nola and Wheeler rank first and fourth, respectively, among all pitchers in innings.

Wheeler’s absence last year proved only that the Phillies can withstand losing one of their aces for a brief spell — and that was when Falter was a depth starter rather than a regular member of the rotation. But if Nola or Wheeler were to suffer a long-term injury, that’s trouble. If they both get injured, see you next year.

Let’s make this as simple as possible: No Phillies player does as much on both sides of the ball as Realmuto. And no offense to backup Garrett Stubbs, but the drop-off to a replacement-level player is steeper at catcher for the Phillies than at any other position.

Since 2019, his first year with the Phillies, Realmuto has 18.2 wins above replacement, according to Fangraphs, 10th-most in baseball. Will Smith of the Dodgers is second among catchers with 11.3 WAR. There’s a reason Realmuto caught every inning in the playoffs last year for the Phillies and has caught 426 innings more than any catcher since 2016.

Losing him for more than a few weeks would be impossible to overcome.

» READ MORE: J.T. Realmuto, Hall of Famer? Why the next three years could put the Phillies catcher in the discussion.