Rhys Hoskins is heating up at the best possible time for the Brewers

In one of the biggest moves of their 2023-2024 offseason, the Milwaukee Brewers added long-time Phillies slugger Rhys Hoskins in free agency to shore up the first base position.

Hoskins, 31, technically only signed a one-year contract, but the Brewers hold team options over him for the 2025 and 2026 seasons (he also has an opt-out after this year). This was the best route to go, because Hoskins did not appear in a single game last year due to injury. The Brewers erred on the side of caution but have come out on top so far.

A hamstring injury kept him out of action for a good chunk of May, and then the seven-year veteran struggled mightily all throughout June (23 G, .213 AVG, .601 OPS) and July (22 G, .192 AVG, .769 OPS). However, he's caught fire to kick off the month of August and is looking much more like the player the Brewers needed him to be when they took a free-agent gamble.

Rhys Hoskins is heating up at the perfect time

Point blank: the Brewers need all the help they can get from their entire roster as they look to make the postseason for the fourth time since 2020. They failed to advance past the Wild Card Series in 2020 and 2023 and were eliminated by the Braves in the Division Series in 2021.

This year, the Brewers look a little bit different, but in a good way. They're armed with one of the game's best bullpens and their lineup is looking extremely deep despite the fact that Christian Yelich is once again on the shelf with a back injury.

Hoskins has played a big role in the offense, especially as of late. Through a 10-game sample in the month of August, he's got four extra-base hits (two doubles, two home runs) with four runs driven in and five more scored. His hot bat goes back a bit further than the beginning of August, though. Dating back to July 24, when he started a 14-game hit streak that came to a close on August 11, he's hitting .302 with five home runs and 11 RBI.

Strictly in the month of August, Hoskins is hitting .300/.349/.500 with an .849 OPS all while spending the majority of his time hitting in the seven-hole. The fact that this big-time slugger is hitting seventh speaks volumes to just how deep Milwaukee's lineup is. In fact, Matthew Trueblood over at Brewer Fanatic recently penned a piece on how Hoskins' hot streak should bat higher in the order. Historically, Hoskins has spent the majority of his time either hitting second or fourth. In both spots, he has a career OPS over .800 (.903 in the four-hole) across over 245 games each.

Regardless of where he's at in the lineup, Hoskins has emerged as a rock-solid presence in the Brewers lineup. It remains to be seen whether he's back next year or not, but the Crew is going to need his bat to continue swinging like it is to get them back to playing meaningful October baseball.