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Rhys Hoskins has a Grade 2 sprain of his left thumb, Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported Sunday afternoon. That will land him on the injured list, and it's likely he'll be out past the All-Star break. The Brewers are calling up Andrew Vaughn to take Hoskins's place on the roster—and, at least in part, his role as the first baseman.
This is a major blow to Milwaukee's offense, which relies on Hoskins, Caleb Durbin and Isaac Collins to get the ball in the air and punctuate their OBP-driven lineup with enough power to cash in rallies for maximal scoring. After a 2024 campaign in which he was diminished by the lingering effects of the ligament tear he suffered in 2023 (plus a hamstring strain last May), Hoskins has been an important component of the team this year, batting .242/.340/.428. He's only hit 12 home runs, but his consistent ability to pull and lift the ball and his patient approach have helped the team put up some crooked numbers.
It seems likely that Hoskins will be out for around a month. Over the last nine seasons, removing injuries that took place in September or early in spring training, position players miss an average of 29 days with thumb sprains. This one isn't on Hoskins's throwing hand, but it's a moderate sprain, meaning that he's almost certainly not on the shorter end of the spectrum of absences.
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Hopefully, Hoskins can return in early August; most of the players who miss more than four weeks with this malady are catchers. Still, his absence will be felt. In the meantime, the silver lining is that the Brewers get a chance to see what they have in Vaughn.
Since acquiring Vaughn from the White Sox in the Aaron Civale trade, the Brewers are getting more out of the former first-round pick than the Sox were—but only in theory. He's whiffed a hair less often and is hitting the ball considerably harder (92.4 mph average exit velocity with Triple-A Nashville, up from the 89.6 mph he was averaging for Charlotte in the Chicago system), but that's still in the minor leagues, and Vaughn is also hitting it on the ground more since coming over.
The Brewers will have the right to control Vaughn through the 2027 season, although his arbitration-fueled salary of $5.85 million can't be reduced by more than 20% next year (and, in practice, will almost certainly rise) unless they non-tender him. With Hoskins an impending free agent, the team does benefit somewhat from the chance to assess Vaughn and start seeing whether he'll be worth retaining this fall. Nonetheless, this is a troubling development. Losing Hoskins means less depth and less margin to work with; the team can now withstand one fewer injury and is much more prone to rally-killing double plays.
In the short term, Jake Bauers could start more than Vaughn, to see whether consistent reps will allow him to tap into his power consistently with the improved plate discipline he's shown this year. At the same time, Vaughn will get some looks, because he could solve some medium-term problems for the organization if he continues to blossom under their care. If not, they need to know that, too. While they'll miss Hoskins's pop and his leadership on a day-to-day basis, this is a needed opportunity. The challenge will be for other hitters in the everyday lineup to pick up the slack while Vaughn feels his way back into a major-league rhythm.
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