Phillies news and rumors 4/27: Is Alec Bohm finally developing into a star?

Alec Bohm has had a strong start for the Phillies in 2024. (John Adams/Icon Sportswire)

Alec Bohm showed flashes of his elite offensive potential over his first four seasons, but entering 2024, had yet to entirely realize being an All-Star caliber hitter for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Perhaps that’s changing before our eyes.

Bohm was responsible for three of the 13 hits that the Phillies posted in Friday night’s 9-3 win over the San Diego Padres. He’s in the midst of 10-game hitting streak, with six multi-hit games over that period. Bohm is currently hitting .347.

The former No. 3 overall pick’s prowess with runners in scoring position continues to be rather amazing. He’s hitting .462 in 26 at-bats with ducks on the pond in 2024. Is that unsustainable? Yes. But the same thing was said when Bohm hit .344 with runners in scoring position a year ago. And considering he’s a .324 career hitter with runners in scoring position, there’s enough of a sample size to conclude that this isn’t a fluke — he’s a really good hitter when there are RBI opportunities.

Bohm drove in a career-high 97 runs a year ago, and already has 22 RBIs in 2024. Are RBIs a perfect metric? No, because by definition, people have to get on base before you to create RBI opportunities, which is out of your control. But there’s a fair argument to be made that an overcorrection has been done on RBIs, and they’ve become an undervalued stat in baseball today. Ultimately, you still have to come through when given the chance to drive runners in, and Bohm has consistently done that.

Entering Saturday evening’s game, Bohm has a .431 on-base percentage. Obviously, hitting .347 is a big reason for that. But what’s been under the radar is that Bohm has already walked 14 times this season. That’s nearly half of the 31 walks that he posted during the entirety of the 2022 season. A year ago, Bohm set a career-high with 42 walks. Clearly, he’s on pace to blow by those marks in 2024.

Over the last three seasons, Bohm has posted a .317 on-base percentage. That’s just below the league average mark in 2023, which was .320. No one is suggesting that Bohm needs to walk at the pace that Kyle Schwarber does. But if he walked 55 times this season, that would be a huge boost in his offensive value, because it would mean he’s not solely reliant on getting hits to reach base.

The elephant in the room with Bohm remains his home run production. There’s long been a feeling that the 6-foot-5, 218-pound third baseman should be hitting in the neighborhood of 30 home runs per season. When he hits a home run, they are typically 400+ foot shots. But he will often follow up impressive home runs by going extended stretches without hitting another.

So far in 2024, Bohm has three home runs, two of which came during a monster performance against the Chicago White Sox on April 19. Bohm set a new career-high with 20 home runs a year ago, and there’s a good chance he’ll top that mark in 2024. But it would be a big difference if he tops it by hitting 29 home runs, as opposed to 22. That’s something to monitor as the season goes along.

Bohm isn’t going to hit .347 all season. The question is whether March/April is a sign that things are all starting to come together for him at the plate, or just a great month to open the season. He hit .434 in July of 2022, but cooled off considerably after that, hitting .270 in August of that season.

If Bohm is able to find a happy medium — one where he’s a .308 hitter that draws walks at a decent clip and hits 25+ home runs this season — it would make an already-deep Phillies lineup even better.

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