ATLANTA — Alec Bohm sat behind a microphone for what could have been the last time as a Phillie on Wednesday morning, and he reflected on his 6½ seasons in the majors as a Phillie, supporting rosters dotted with future Hall of Famers. He will be a free agent this winter, and his inconsistent play combined with his occasional truculence have led to assumptions that he will be moving on.
Then, five hours later, Bohm, hitting in the No. 4 spot, rocked the winning home run in the 10th inning of Game 2 of the wild-card series against the Braves. The Phillies took a 4-3 lead, which held up in the bottom of the inning as rookie Andrew Painter dealt the third of his three scoreless innings, and the season was saved.
With it, Bohm might have saved his future in Philadelphia and erased some of the less jubilant moments of his past.
The Phillies have tried to platoon him, they’ve benched him in the playoffs, they’ve shoved him from the cleanup spot to the bottom of the order, and they’ve put him on the trading block so often he might as well have been a bale of beaver pelts in the Old West. He never much cared, it seemed, until now.
Once a Philly hater, he now desperately wants to be a Phillie for life.
“I would love nothing more than to stay,” he said afterward. “I mean, if you think about it, like, not that often does a guy get to play his whole career in one place.”
Did Wednesday improve his chances?
“Yeah. You got to show up when it matters,” he said. “I think that’s a big part of it.”
The hit was Bohm’s second of the game, his third of the playoffs, and, with an earlier walk, it marked the fourth time he’d reached base in his nine plate appearances. He also drove in a run in Game 1.
That’s what he does. He doesn’t hit many home runs, but, hitting behind Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, and Trea Turner, he has averaged just over 82 RBIs the past five seasons.
“Seems like with Alec, everybody is always looking for more, for more,” interim manager Don Mattingly said before the game. “And he always ends up driving in around 90 runs, gets key hits.”
He has played among veterans his whole career, and he’s played like a veteran lately, to be sure. He’s a rare right-handed bat who plays first and third base and produces runs.
The question: If Bohm moves on, can the Phillies adequately replace him?
And, if so, how much will it cost … and how much will he cost?
Bohm is a homegrown first-round pick, drafted third overall in 2018. He turned 30 in August. He’s a productive everyday player.
Pay him.
He started slowly this season, but there were mitigating circumstances. He was in a contract year. He was suing his parents for mismanaging his money (that has been settled).
Harper stressed that the situation with his family clearly affected Bohm more than anyone let on.
“Man, I’m proud of him,” Harper said. “He’s been through the wringer this year, you know, on and off the field. No person, or player, or anybody should have to go through those situations.”
It all has worn on Bohm, both over the years and over the past few months.
“It’s just been a long road, with a lot of ups and downs,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot. I’ve made a lot of really close friends along the way. I’ve had a lot of people to lean on.”
He was an All-Star two years ago, but, really, he’s never been a better player than he is today.
From Aug. 2 to the end of the regular season, Bohm hit .308 with an .818 OPS, destroying lefties in particular.
“I don’t think there was a specific adjustment that I made,” Bohm said before the game. “I kind of just started seeing the ball a little better and got more comfortable.”
Bohm sure is comfortable. He has been as big a part of the Phillies’ late-season surge as anyone. He is entering his prime. There is no reason to end this relationship, now that it’s just heating up.
It hasn’t always been a rosy relationship.
In 2022, the Phillies planned to either replace Bohm at third base or platoon him with Bryson Stott, but injuries squelched those plans. Still, as Bohm struggled early that season, he was caught on camera on the home field saying, “I [bleeping] hate this place.”
Bohm apologized for that moment. He’s a kid from Nebraska who played college ball in Kansas, so he had to learn how to survive in a big city. He got better at third base. He moved to first base this year at the trade deadline when the Phillies acquired second baseman Luis Arraez, and there he has shined: He made two fine plays Wednesday.
Certainly, it wasn’t all Bohm on Wednesday.
Cristopher Sánchez delivered 6⅔ innings, allowed three runs, and threw a career-high 116 pitches, helping Mattingly avoid a beleaguered bullpen.
Painter, the fifth starter, made his playoff debut with three scoreless innings of relief — the eighth, ninth, and 10th — the first time he’s ever pitched in relief in those innings.
And, of course, there was Lightning and Thunder.
With their season in peril, Schwarber and Harper hit back-to-back home runs in the eighth inning and tied the game at 3. That took Sánchez off the hook.
They also absolved Harper and Bohm of defensive miscues in the seventh that gave the Braves two runs and a 3-1 lead.
More than anything, they forced extra innings in a must-win game whose loss not only would have given the Braves a 2-0 series sweep but, considering how disappointing the Phillies have been the past three postseasons, might have ended this era. It almost certainly would have ended Mattingly’s tenure.
And, likely, Bohm’s.
Instead, they play Game 3 on Thursday. Bohm will be in the four-hole.
It’s hard to overstate, fairly or not, the low regard the organization has shown Bohm.
The Phillies spent $100 million on Nick Castellanos to serve as their right-handed cleanup hitter from 2022-26, but they released him this offseason after he’d failed in the role. They spent $10 million on his replacement, Adolis García, but he hit just .195 before injury ended his season in June. They traded for Arraez at the deadline and let him hit fourth until he sprained his ankle last week. Stott batted cleanup in the season finale Sunday.
But it’s been Bohm’s spot the past two games, and he has shown up, to the delight of the fans who have ridden him harder than any Phillie in the past six years.
He’s a hero tonight, even in Harper’s eyes. Harp is a good and nurturing teammate, but, as a future Hall of Fame No. 3 hitter, in spring training he was disappointed that the Phillies failed to better fortify the No. 4 spot in the offseason.
“I think the numbers in the four-spot weren’t very good last year for our whole team,” Harper said. “Whoever is in that four-spot is going to have a big job to do.”
Bohm got the job done Wednesday, and Harper acknowledged it.
“Today, he’s one of the best players, and probably one of the favorites, in Philadelphia right now,” Harper said.
That should continue far into the future.
