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The Phillies announced they activated the first baseman Rhys hoskins from the 10-day injured list. Surprisingly enough, Philadelphia picked a struggling infielder Alec bohm to Triple-A Lehigh Valley in a matching move.
Hoskins is back after a two-week absence with strain in his left groin. He’s back on first base, finishing fifth in this afternoon’s game against the Padres. Hoskins hit his generally productive level this year, cutting .244 / .332 / .509 with 24 home runs out of 434 home plate appearances. That kind of offensive production will be welcome for the plummeting Phils, who have only gone 5-8 since their last game on Aug. 5. Coupled with the Braves’ recent teardown, the Phillies have lost five games in the National Eastern League.
Bohm has been in the majors since Philadelphia selected him to make his MLB debut last August. The former 3rd pick and top prospect started his career on a high, hitting 0.338 / .400 / 0.481 in his first 180 trips to plate last season. This earned him a second place in the vote for the NL Rookie of the Year award.
That solid performance earned Bohm the opening post of the season at third goal earlier this year. The Phils were no doubt expecting more of the same offensive impact from the right-handed hitter, but he struggled a lot in his second campaign. In 407 home plate appearances, Bohm hit .245 / .302 / .342 with seven circuits. After adjusting for Philadelphia’s friendly home park, that production is 24 percentage points below the league average.
Bohm’s withdrawal rate fell from 20% last season to below 26.5% in 2021, while his walk rate declined slightly. While this is a disheartening development, the bigger issue is that Bohm’s batting results have nosedived. Bohm was never likely to maintain last season’s 0.410 batting average on in-play balls, so it’s no surprise his BABIP has fallen to 0.323 this year. It’s still higher than the league’s average BABIP of 0.293 – reflecting Bohm’s ability to pulverize hard contact on any court – but it reinforces the fact that Bohm has to do more damage from a potency perspective. if he wants to be a hard-hitting offensive player.
At this point, it showed surprisingly little extra-basic noise. It is not for lack of strength; Bohm’s 92.4 MPH average exit speed and 50.2 percent hard-hit rate this season are both in the top ten percent of skilled hitting rates. However, he wasn’t able to hit the ball into the air with regularity, negating much of the value that comes from bossy contact. Bohm’s 52.8% ground ball rate is eighth among 119 batters with more than 400 home plate appearances. It’s not a good place for a potential power hitter, and he’s the only player in the top ten in terms of ball rate to the ground who is also hitting at an above-average clip.
If Bohm isn’t hitting well, he isn’t delivering much value. Potential rankings have long raised questions about his defensive abilities at third base, and advanced measurements suggest he has been an below average defenseman this season. Ronald torreyes is a top defender in the hot corner, while utility Brad miller could also be taken into account in the third base mix.
Despite 2021, the Phillies are likely still counting on Bohm to make an impact in the not-so-distant future. It wouldn’t be surprising if it was brought back to the majors anytime soon, with active rosters set to expand to 28 on September 1. A brief demotion could serve to reset Bohm without facing the pressure of a flag run.
Today’s option will have no effect on Bohm’s path to free agency, but it could have an impact when he gets to arbitration. He only made his majors debut too late in the 2020 season to achieve a full year of MLB service last year, so he entered 2021 with 128 days of service. He’s built up enough time to reach his first full year of service this season, so he will remain on track for free will after the 2026 campaign. Bohm could presumably qualify for officiating after next season as a player. Super Two (assuming the Super Two system survives even in the new round of collective bargaining), but a long elective assignment could prevent him from accessing arbitration until the 2023-24 offseason.
More soon.
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