Hoskins unconcerned with HR Derby, swing

BALTIMORE — Rhys Hoskins has heard the theory that participating in the Home Run Derby can mess up a hitter’s swing.

The Philadelphia Phillies slugger isn’t buying it.

“I don’t think it’s going to be an issue at all,” Hoskins said. “I get it for some people, I guess, but I don’t think that there will be any changes in my swing to do the derby. That’s not going to be an issue for me.”

Although Hoskins wasn’t named to the National League All-Star team, he was tabbed to swing for the fences Monday night in Washington. He will be the fifth Phillies player to compete in the derby and the first since Ryan Howard in 2009.

The notion of the derby as a detriment began with former Phillies outfielder Bobby Abreu. In 2005, he hit 18 homers in 397 plate appearances before participating in — and winning — the Home Run Derby, then hit only 6 home runs in 322 plate appearances for the rest of the season.

When New York Mets third baseman David Wright had a similar power outage after finishing as the derby runner-up to Howard in 2006, a theory arose that he and Abreu altered their swing mechanics for the contest and fell into bad habits.

Hoskins contends that the derby isn’t much different from a typical round of batting practice. In fact, while he works on various elements of his swing before games, he said he occasionally tries to muscle up and hit home runs. He maintains that Monday night won’t be any different.

“I have a routine that I typically follow in BP. I like to control the barrel a little bit more,” said Hoskins, who was the Phillies’ designated hitter in Thursday night’s interleague game against the Orioles and entered play with 14 home runs in 353 plate appearances this season.