Rob Thomson says offseason communication with Alec Bohm is ‘priority of mine’

Rob Thomson probably won’t do any vacationing with Alec Bohm over the winter, but the Phillies manager will be sure to keep in touch. After a disappointing National League Division Series and a Game 2 benching, Thomson wants to make sure he stays connected with his All-Star third baseman.

“I think that that is a priority of mine,” Thomson said at the Phillies’ end-of-season press conference at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday. “To maybe not spend time with him, but be on the phone with him, text with him, stay in contact with him.”

Both Thomson and Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski emphasized Bohm’s quality as a player and importance to this team as they reflected on his season. He batted .280/.332/.448 with 15 home runs, 44 doubles and 97 RBIs in 143 games this year, hitting his way into the middle of the Phillies lineup as a regular run producer.

But after making the NL All-Star team in the first half, Bohm struggled following a short stint on the injured list with a left hand strain in September. His poor production then leaked into the postseason as he went 1-for-14 (.077 batting average) in Philadelphia’s four-game NLDS loss to the Mets. Wearing his emotions on his sleeve, Bohm did not hide his frustration during the playoffs, slamming his helmet after an out and swiping his hand across a base in an argument with an umpire.

“I definitely wasn’t my best self, and it doesn’t feel good,” he said after Game 4 in New York. “But it is what it is. It’s a hard game, and you’re not always going to be getting hits and all those things. There’s other ways to help the team win, and it just didn’t happen.”

It’s hard to say how much the hand played a factor. “I’m not gonna make excuses,” Bohm said. “I don’t feel like it did, but obviously I wasn’t the same guy when I came back. Is it the hand? I don’t know. I don’t feel like it is, but I definitely didn’t get back to where I was before that, swinging the bat.”

Lingering hand problem or not, the bottom line was that Bohm did not hit the way the Phillies expected or needed in the playoffs. Thomson gave Edmundo Sosa the start over Bohm in Game 2 in an attempt to jolt his team. Bohm’s performance didn’t improve as he was reinserted into the starting lineup. His at-bats left a lot to be desired.

Bohm saw 39 pitches in 14 plate appearances in the NLDS for an average of 2.79 pitches per plate appearance. That figure was boosted by a more patient Game 4 in which he went 0-for-3 with a walk. He saw only 19 pitches in his first 10 plate appearances of the series.

“I think that just gets noticed because when I swing at the first pitch,” Bohm said, “I usually put it in play and hit it. I don’t foul it off. I don’t swing and miss. So the at-bat ends right there and then I don’t get a hit and, ‘Oh, he’s swinging at the first pitch. He needs to see pitches.’

“But when I’m up there, I’m an aggressive hitter. I’m not gonna change who I am. That’s how I’ve been my whole career. That’s what got me here. And if they throw the ball over the plate, I’m ready to hit it. … Every time I stand there with a bat on my shoulder and see a pitch, it’s right down the middle. So it’s a double-edged sword.”

While Bohm was correct to point out his contact ability — he had no strikeouts in the postseason — those bat-to-ball skills may have worked against him in the playoffs. When Nick Castellanos or Trea Turner swing wildly at a bad pitch early in the count, they still get two more chances. When Bohm hacks at a pitch he can’t do any damage with, he gets himself out on the spot. He may feel that every pitch is down the middle in his eyes, but the Mets got him to put a number of balls on the corners or out of the strike zone in play for early outs throughout the series. It did not look like a winning approach.

When asked if he was potentially at a crossroads following a troubling postseason, Bohm denied the notion, saying, “I know where I’ll be next year.”

Alec Bohm on if he’s at a crossroads: “No, I know where I’ll be next year.” @OnPattison @PhilliesNation pic.twitter.com/MzCAMAf9a8

— Tim Kelly (@TimKellySports) October 10, 2024

The Phillies could possibly trade him this offseason with two years of arbitration remaining on his contract, but Bohm is likely right about staying in Philadelphia. With that in mind, Phillies management expressed confidence in Bohm as a member of the team’s mix moving forward.

“Bohm’s a good player,” Dombrowski said. “He’s the starting third baseman for the National League team. He’s a good player. He knocked in 100 or close to 100 runs two years in a row. He’s one of the top hitters in the league. He’s improved defensively. He had an outstanding first half of the season and not a very good — not an Alec Bohm — second half of the season. But he, overall, is a really good player.”

It seems that’s the messaging Thomson will also relay to Bohm himself to keep him engaged and aware that he’s going to be an important piece in 2025.

“He’s a really good player,” Thomson said. “I know that there’s a lot of talk of the second half, the last couple of months, his production wasn’t the same. But he was [posting] off-the-charts production at the start of the season. I’m not sure if you’re going to expect a guy to maintain that through the entire year, and his numbers at the end of this year are actually better than they were last year. So he’s making some improvement.”

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