Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm saw a nice bump in his production at the plate during an up-and-down season in 2022. The former #3 overall pick has a whole other level that he’s capable of reaching, however. He’s showing signs this spring that he could be on the verge of reaching those levels in 2023.
Alec Bohm improved his batting average from .247 to .280 in 2022 while cutting down on his strikeouts substantially, dropping from a 26.6% strikeout rate to 17.4% and upping his power production to 13 HR and 72 RBIs.
Bohm’s improvement in 2022 came primarily based on being much better at handling fastballs. According to FanGraphs, Bohm’s runs above average on fastballs was -15.6 in 2021. He improved that to 4.0 in 2022. That improvement came at the cost of his production on offspeed pitches, with his runs above average on both sliders and breaking balls dropping. It was worth it, though. Bohm hit a measly .176 on 4-seem fastballs in 2021 (610 pitches). In 2022, Bohm mashed 4 seamers to the tune of a .353.
Bohm’s post-season started slow, but he hit safely in five of the six World Series games with his only post-season home run.
This off-season, Bohm built on the momentum from 2022 by adding 5-10 lbs of muscle simply by eating clean and doing his normal workouts – at least according to Bohm. Whatever the reason, Bohm’s power output this spring has been notable. Earlier this week he hit this bomb against the Orioles.
Bohm has already hit four home runs this spring. He hit just two home runs in the past three spring trainings COMBINED. His eight extra-base hits this spring is also more than he’s had the previous three years in aggregate. A 20+ HR season from Bohm is not wishful thinking. It seems very possible at this point.
A breakout from Bohm was already needed by the Phillies this year, with Bryce Harper starting the season on the DL. It became even more of a need for the Fightins after Rhy Hoskins injured his ACL on Thursday, likely costing him his 2023 season. Just like needing Nick Castellanos to bounce back this year, the Phillies now need Bohm to take a big step forward this year if they want to go on another post-season run this fall.
It will be interesting to see where Bohm pencils into the lineup with Hoskins out. The third spot will likely come down to Bohm or Castellanos, with JT Realmuto hitting clean-up.
Who fills in for Hoskins will play a role here too. There will be a lot of thought given to having Bohm play some – maybe more than just some – first base if the Phills do not get an external replacement for Hoskins. Dave Dombrowski shot this down on Friday, saying that Darik Hall will see most of the playing time at first with Rhys out.
Given all the challenges Bohm endured at third before finding his comfort zone there, though, the Phillies are being wise not to mess with Bohm’s place on the diamond right now. After Bohm’s disastrous three-error, “I hate this place” game, he settled in and improved his defense at third. Hopefully, his comfortability at third and his improvement at the plate will lead to a breakout campaign. The Phillies really need it.
