Rhys Hoskins vs. Pete Alonso figures to become the rivalry within the Phillies-Mets rivalry

Never mind that they haven't played against each other for seven weeks. It didn't escape Rhys Hoskins' notice last month that Pete Alonso was muddling through a three-week offensive funk, the lone hiccup in his smashing rookie season for the New York Mets.

"I saw he struggled a little bit out of the gate after the All-Star break," Hoskins said this week. "But it happens to everyone."

Hoskins certainly knows the feeling. The Phillies slugger has been stuck in the worst slump of his brief big-league career over the last month and a half, and unlike Alonso, he can’t seem to shake it.

Perhaps Wednesday night, when he tripled and doubled in a 12-3 rout of the woeful Pittsburgh Pirates for his first multi-hit game since July 24, will represent the turning point.

But it figures that Hoskins would be keeping an eye on Alonso. They have so much in common, after all, beyond merely their position on the field.

Both first basemen played in college (Hoskins went to Sacramento State; Alonso played at Florida) and possess powerful right-handed swings. And they have had so much success so quickly in their careers that they are already a face of their respective teams.

It's conceivable, then, as the National League East foes meet again this weekend at Citizens Bank Park in a three-game series that has wild-card implications, that Hoskins vs. Alonso will emerge as the rivalry within the Phillies-Mets rivalry for years to come, just as Jimmy Rollins vs. Jose Reyes was more than a decade ago.

Looming over Hoskins, though, are the same questions that will follow Alonso into future seasons once the shine wears off from his inevitable rookie of the year award: How much better can he get? Is he a genuine superstar or a complementary player on a contending team?

"For me, Alonso has kind of risen above Hoskins now where this time last year I would've taken Hoskins," one National League scout said.

A year ago, Alonso was still in the minor leagues. But he made the Mets out of spring training, and with 42 home runs entering Thursday night’s game against the Chicago Cubs, he has gone deep more often in one season than any player in the history of a franchise that has boasted such power threats as Dave Kingman, Darryl Strawberry, Mike Piazza, David Wright, and Carlos Beltran.

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Alonso's rookie-year success is also reminiscent of Hoskins' historic home-run binge in 2017. After getting called up by the Phillies 10 days into August, he bashed 18 homers in only 170 at-bats and instantly took the mantle from Ryan Howard as the franchise's big slugger.

It all happened so quickly for Hoskins, who became the Phillies’ de facto team leader well before he marked even the first anniversary of his major-league debut.

Regression was almost inevitable, especially as Hoskins went through the league a second and third time. But his slugging percentage has slid from .618 during that 2017 burst to .496 last season and .474 this year.

He has always been an extreme fly-ball hitter, but his detractors believe he has become too obsessed with hitting the ball in the air and hold him up as an example of the downside to the launch-angle craze.

The numbers seem to support that claim. Hoskins' average launch angle (25.4) is the highest of any hitter with at least 100 plate appearances this season. His fly-ball rate (52.1 percent) ranks third. But his rate of hard-hit balls, according to Fangraphs, is only 44.9 percent, tied for 51st.

Charlie Manuel has watched Hoskins since he was in the minor leagues. In the nearly three weeks since he took over for deposed John Mallee as the Phillies’ hitting coach, Manuel has observed some potential problems with Hoskins’ mechanics.

"Watching him, and he kind of agrees with me, I think it's something like when he lifts his leg," Manuel said before Wednesday night's game. "He's got about a half-leg kick and his stride and stuff, I think it's been his timing. He's back to the routine that he's always had, and he's starting to hit balls on the fat part of the bat. I think he's first coming out of it."

Hoskins will have to if the Phillies have a prayer of making the playoffs for the first time since 2011. They are built on their offense, specifically the threesome of Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto, and Hoskins. With 30 games left in the season, they still have not yet gotten hot at the same time, which partially explains why the Phillies haven’t won more than four games in a row.

“Hey, look, we need Rhys Hoskins to hit,” Manuel said. “He’s a big part of our lineup, of course. We need him to hit. We need for Harper to hit. Those are our big machines. Stop and think about it: When Harper and Rhys Hoskins hit, we usually win.”

The Mets say the same about Alonso, who eventually will go through struggles more profound than his 12-for-77 lapse coming out of the All-Star break. Like Hoskins, there will be great attention paid to how quickly he can get out of it. There will be questions about how good he really is. That’s what comes with being an overnight sensation.

“It’s a credit to him that he’s been able to, as of late, bounce back from that and really lift those guys to where they are right now,” Hoskins said. “He’s an impressive young hitter. Covers a lot [of the plate]. I haven’t talked to him much, but he’s a good dude, a baseball guy. It should be a little fun, friendly competition.”