ATLANTA — Alec Bohm didn’t hit the bottom after he took a 100.8 mph fastball off his left shoulder on Friday. The truth is, he checked out his dugout and gave three emphatic claps.
Phillies followers have been witness to among the highest highs and lowest lows throughout Bohm’s 2022 season. They noticed him mutter some selection phrases after a irritating night time wherein he dedicated three errors vs. the Mets on April 11.
Within the Wild Card Collection, they noticed Bohm drive within the Phillies’ first postseason run since 2011 together with his ninth-inning hit-by-pitch in Recreation 1 and placed on a defensive present in Recreation 2 to assist his workforce advance to face Atlanta within the NLDS.
What they haven’t seen is the behind-the-scenes work Bohm has put in to show his season round. The outcomes on the sector communicate for themselves: Bohm has improved markedly each defensively and offensively. However if you happen to ask the 26-year-old, his greatest accomplishment this season has been his maturity.
“You solely get one likelihood at this,” Bohm mentioned. “So many guys come up, fail, undergo issues I went by and so they do not make a change. And that is the one likelihood they get. So I did not need to let these easy issues be the factor that bought in the way in which of me with the ability to put the uniform on day by day.”
The third baseman credit his coaches, particularly infield coach Bobby Dickerson and hitting coach Kevin Lengthy, for the powerful love they’ve offered in the course of the lows.
“I believe Bobby, the way in which he goes about his enterprise is he simply frees gamers as much as allow them to be them and simply go play. And [Kevin Long], similar factor,” Bohm mentioned. “He does not allow you to spin your wheels and assume one thing’s improper.”
Bohm has additionally leaned on veteran teammates akin to Jean Segura and Rhys Hoskins, who identified Bohm’s maturity as his greatest space of development this yr.
“To see him develop and determine learn how to get on the opposite aspect of a few of these valleys that we encounter usually on this recreation is one thing that he by no means needed to do earlier than, and [he] needed to study sort of on the fly,” Hoskins mentioned. “Sadly, for him, he needed to do it underneath the brightest lights and in a market that we play in, which is trustworthy. It is simply an trustworthy market. I am pleased with him for that.”
Throughout Spring Coaching, Bohm wasn’t positive he’d have a spot to develop into this season. For one, he was competing with Bryson Stott for the third-base job. For an additional, it was reported the Phillies had been open to utilizing Bohm as a commerce piece in the event that they had been to tweak their roster.
“This man was a excessive Draft decide,” Hoskins mentioned. “He was a stud in school. I am positive he was a stud in highschool. Ran by the Minor Leagues, simply hit all over the place he went. He bought to the massive leagues and did the identical factor. [Then, he] sort of bought slapped within the face like lots of us do. That is what this recreation does.”
“He is a man that has improved extra inside a yr than I’ve ever had in my profession,” mentioned supervisor Rob Thomson, who had the interim tag eliminated on Monday. “Not solely offensively, however defensively, maturity-wise. I give lots of credit score to him, however give lots of credit score to Bobby Dickerson [and] Kevin Lengthy for the work they do with him every day. They maintain him upbeat. They maintain him assured. They inform him the reality when he is not doing nicely, and he responds, and a credit score to all of them.”
Along with his coaches, Bohm occurs to compete in a market stuffed with followers who additionally aren’t afraid to inform the reality. After his three-error recreation in April, Bohm was trending on Twitter after cameras picked up a second of frustration wherein Bohm mentioned, “I [expletive] hate this place.”
He owned as much as what he mentioned and apologized.
Six months later throughout an on-field interview with MLB Community after the Phillies swept the Cardinals within the Wild Card Collection, Bohm once more made headlines with a brand new quote: “I really like this place.”
“[It’s good to] have their assist and so they noticed the human component of it,” Bohm mentioned. “Folks messing up, proudly owning as much as it or no matter and rising from it. I positively perceive [the fans] standpoint of issues much more and I positively respect that much more.”
