Rhys Hoskins remains a source of right-handed power. Jason Miller / Getty Images
Feb. 22, 2026 10:53 am EST
The Cleveland Guardians, a playoff team last season despite carrying one of the league’s worst offenses, finally added to their lineup by agreeing to terms with free-agent first baseman Rhys Hoskins on a minor-league deal, multiple team sources told The Athletic. The deal would earn Hoskins a $1.5 million base salary if he makes the major-league roster.
Hoskins was in the Guardians’ clubhouse on Sunday morning. He still needs to pass a physical.
Hoskins, the No. 43-ranked free agent on The Athletic’s Top 50 Big Board, slashed .237/.332/.416 with 12 homers in 328 plate appearances for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2025. But he played sparingly down the stretch for Milwaukee, which finished with the best record in the National League but was swept by the eventual champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Championship Series, and was not on the team’s postseason roster.
The career of Hoskins, who turns 33 in March, has a clear dividing line. Before missing the entirety of 2023 recovering from a torn ACL, Hoskins posted a 125 OPS+ over six seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies. In the two seasons after returning from the injury, both with the Brewers, that OPS+ is just 102, making him an average producer on offense.
Still, Hoskins is a solid source of right-handed power. And though his career appears to have entered its late stages, The Athletic’s Tim Britton projected a one-year, $10 million deal for Hoskins at the start of the offseason.
Feb 22, 2026
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