The Phillies announced they’ve activated first baseman Rhys Hoskins from the 10-day injured list. Somewhat surprisingly, Philadelphia optioned struggling corner infielder Alec Bohm to Triple-A Lehigh Valley in a corresponding move.
Hoskins is back after a two-week absence due to a left groin strain. He’s starting at first base and hitting fifth in this afternoon’s game against the Padres. Hoskins has hit at his typically productive level this year, slashing .244/.332/.509 with 24 home runs over 434 plate appearances. That kind of offensive production will be welcome for the suddenly slumping Phils, who have gone just 5-8 since he last played on August 5. Coupled with the Braves’ recent tear, the Phillies have fallen five games back in the National League East.
Bohm has been in the majors since Philadelphia selected him to make his debut last August. The former #3 overall pick and top prospect began his career with a flourish, hitting .338/.400/.481 over his first 180 trips to the plate. That earned him a runner-up finish in NL Rookie of the Year award voting.
That strong showing locked Bohm in as the season-opening third baseman in 2021. The Phils no doubt expected more of the same offensive impact from the right-handed hitter, but he’s struggled mightily in his sophomore campaign. Through 407 plate appearances, Bohm is hitting .245/.302/.342 with seven home runs. After adjusting for Philadelphia’s hitter-friendly home park, that production checks in 24 percentage points worse than the league average.
Bohm’s strikeout rate has jumped from 20% last season to a subpar 26.5% in 2021, while his walk rate has dipped slightly. While that’s a discouraging development, the bigger issue is that Bohm’s results on batted balls have nosedived. Bohm was never likely to sustain last season’s .410 batting average on balls in play, so it’s unsurprising his BABIP has dropped to .323 this year. That’s still higher than the .293 league average — reflective of Bohm’s ability to spray hard contact to all fields — but it reinforces that Bohm needs to do more damage from a power standpoint if he’s to be an impactful offensive player.
To this point, he’s shown surprisingly little extra-base thump. It’s not for a lack of strength; Bohm’s 92.4 MPH average exit velocity and 50.2% hard hit rate both check in among the top ten percent of qualified hitters. He’s been unable to hit the ball in the air with consistency, though, negating much of the value that comes with making authoritative contact. Bohm’s 52.8% ground-ball rate is eighth-highest among 119 hitters with 400+ plate appearances. That’s not a good place for a potential power hitter, and he’s the only player in the top ten in ground-ball rate who’s also striking out at a higher than average clip.
If Bohm isn’t hitting well, he’s not providing much in the way of value. Prospect rankers long raised questions about his defensive ability at third base, and the advanced metrics suggest he’s been a below-average defender this season. Ronald Torreyes is a superior gloveman at the hot corner, while utilityman Brad Miller could factor into the third base mix as well while Bohm’s in the minors.
Down 2021 notwithstanding, the Phillies are likely still counting on Bohm to make an impact in the not-too-distant future. It wouldn’t be surprising if he’s brought back to the majors in short order, with active rosters set to expand to 28 on September 1. A brief demotion could serve to get Bohm a mental reset without dealing with the pressure of a pennant race.
Today’s option won’t have any effect on Bohm’s path to free agency, but it could impact when he reaches arbitration. He didn’t debut in the majors until too late in the 2020 season to reach a full year of MLB service last year, so he entered 2021 with 128 days of service time. He has banked enough time to reach his first full year of service this season, so he’ll remain on track for free agency after the 2026 campaign. Bohm could plausibly qualify for arbitration after next season as a Super Two player (assuming the Super Two system even survives the new round of collective bargaining negotiations), but a lengthy optional assignment could keep him from reaching arbitration until the 2023-24 offseason.
okay. hopefully this solves two problems.
I’m not a Phillies fan. I’m actually a Braves fan. Either way I’m telling Phillies fans not to worry about Bohm. Look at Austin Riley. He had a serious breakout when he got called up. I think he hit 11 home runs in his first month. Then pitcher caught on to the fact that he was only crushing the fastball and started throwing him a strict diet of breaking balls. He couldn’t adjust. He just kept getting out. Everyone started saying he was going to be garbage. Then he spent the entire offseason working on hitting the breaking ball. The next season he started crushing the breaking ball. Guess what though? All of a sudden he couldn’t hit the fastball. All the naysayers said, “See. I told you he was garbage. Look. I’m right. He will never make it in this league.” I was thinking: Wait… So he proved he could crush the fastball. Then he proved he could crush the breaking ball. Now, at the ripe age of 22, you are saying he will always be terrible because he hasn’t figured out how to do both at the same time yet? When was the last time anyone heard of a major league hitter who could crush both fastballs and breaking balls that never materialized because he never figured out how to do both at the same time? Never. That’s when. This guy is only 22! Guess what? Look at Riley now. A great power hitter with a batting average over .290 who leads the entire National League in total bases. Alec Bohm is a stud. He’s just young and he’s on the Austin Riley track. Don’t worry about him Phillies fans. He might not get it done this year or even next year but by 2023 I bet he is one of the best players in baseball proving the Phillies made the right decision to draft him. I don’t usually give Phillies fans encouragement but I remember all of the naysayers when the Braves were going through this same thing with Riley. It’s all B.S. Just ignore it and laugh at them when the young guy turns out to be a stud.
Good call. Being sent down after a debut and lack of success down not prevent you from future success. Trout was sent down after his first call up.
I feel the same way. I was a big fan of Austin Riley’s talent at the plate since the minors and while he had many doubters when he struggled in parts of 2019-20,I said I’d love to have him here (PHILS fan). He has discipline,a good approach and power, and now Riley has MVP like #s. I feel the same way about Bohm, who never struggled at any level at the plate until this year. He will go down to AAA and get to play everyday, maybe get his swing going, and be back by 9/1 at the latest.Hopefully Bohm gets hot and the Phillies can beat the string of mostly bad teams they have after the 2 game series w/TB. ,4 vs. ARZ. 3@ WASH 3@ Mia, 3@ MIL 4 vs. CoL, 3 vs. Cubs, 3@ NYM, 3 vs.BALT 4 vs. Pitt,and then those final 3 @ATL. Over those 35 games, Phils should win a minimum of 25 of those.
(split w/TB)win all 4 vs.ARZ at home, 5 of 6 vs. WASH & MIA, probably win 1 of 3 @MIL, win 6 of 7 at home vs COL/Cubs, win 2 of 3 vs NYM sweep Balt and 3 of 4 vs PIT .Then the Braves series will be a matter of importance/pitching matchups to end the season. We shall see soon enough!
Maybe my math is off (good chance it is) but it looks like you’re saying the Phil’s will go like 22-3 against Arz, Wash, Miami, Cubs & Col? You do realize those teams have major league players too right? The Phil’s are not a bad team but I honestly do not think they have the offense to go 22-3 against any group of major league teams. Plus Miami still has good young pitching and a good back end of the pen. Actually there are some pitching match ups that, if I was a betting man, I would put my money on Miami to beat the Phil’s. Washington still has Juan Soto and Gray has pitched well. Arizona just swept the Phil’s so to assume you sweep four from them is a little far fetched. I could go on but you get the point. If the Phillies go 17-8 against those teams you should be happy.
I will be very surprised if Riley doesn’t see regression in his 351 babip.
He will obviously regress, but the extent that he regresses isn’t too concerning. He would sill project for a .260/.330/.490 slash line if his babip returns to career norms. Good enough to hit 4th in almost any lineup. He lowered his K% and upped his BB% without sacrificing power. Even if you are really sour on his barrel skills, he bottoms out with something like a .235/.315/.480 slash which is still a good 5 or 6 hitter in most lineups.
Not sure it’s “obvious” a young kid in his first full 162 game season will regress. And there really isn’t enough history to have “career norms”. Assuming regression is assuming his first full season is the best he has. That seems a little silly but that’s just me. As someone who has watched every major league AB of his career my assumption is he is just scratching the surface and will continue to get better.
“And there really isn’t enough history to have “career norms”.
Minor league babips can be used to project major league babip. He has enough of a minor league track record to haver career norms. A .351 babip on a guy who hits as many flyballs as he does is not sustainable.
“Assuming regression is assuming his first full season is the best he has.”
No I assume regression because he is doing something unsustainable. If I start taking take half court shots and make the second one, are you gonna assume I will make 50% of my half court shots? Am I only scratching the surface? Or is it a better assumptions I out performed my ability and will probably come back down to a normal rate of half court shots made?
“As someone who has watched every major league AB of his career my assumption is he is just scratching the surface and will continue to get better.”
I don’t care about how much you have watched him. That’s completely irrelevant. I do a lot of star gazing, doesn’t mean I can tell you crap about the solar system.
“That seems a little silly but that’s just me.”
This isn’t even a criticism of the guy. I was giving a defense, but unless I say he a future hall of famer you are gonna be offended because you’re soft.
There is absolutely no defense to your assumptions and minor league stats is almost comical. You are assuming his barrel % will not improve. You are assuming his k % will not improve anymore than it already has. I could go on. Bottom line is there is not enough “history” to assume regression and assuming basing anything on minor league stats is hilarious.
You haven’t “star gazed” all your life. If you have you’d be able to tell me something about the solar system. But it seems you don’t need much history with anything to predict the future. Just a year or so of numbers so it shouldn’t take you long to tell us everything we need to know regarding the solar system, huh?
Never mentioned he’d be a hall of famer. I just trust my instincts when it comes to watching him than I do the small sample of “history” you’re making assumptions from.
If he was 28 and had been in the league for 5+ years and his numbers jumped like they have your assumption would make sense. As it stands it makes zero sense. Only time will tell though.
Soft
Didn’t take long to find the keyboard gangsta of MLBTR huh?
Nobody is a true talent 350 babip guy and few are even 330 babip guys. Out of all active guys with at least 4k PAs only 1 is above 350 and 9 are above 340.
It is not guaranteed he will regress but very likely
Nebraska –
You ever hear about people who assume? This is what they’re talking about. Did you “assume” that Andruw Jones would be done at such an early age or did you “assume” that he would continue down the same path he had established for a decade. Did you assume that Corbin Burnes was going to have a 8.82 ERA every year because he did so in 2019 and could never possibly improve? You never know what’s going to happen in baseball. To assume is just plain stupid
My personal guess is Riley’s batting average and OBP will regress but his power will increase. I see him as a .270ish hitter who at his best can come close to leading the league in home runs. Considering he is a 3rd baseman that could eventually put him in the MVP conversation. Yes his BABIP is slightly unsustainable but if you think this is all the power Riley has in the tank you don’t know Austin Riley. He won’t replicate this season every year. He will get worse in some areas while getting better than others. He’s young. He hasn’t even hit his prime yet. His game will get better regardless of BABIP. The point of my post wasn’t that Riley would sustain these exact same stats. The point was that for the past 2 years many, many people said Riley was garbage and should be traded for anything because he wouldn’t make it in the league. BABIP or not, Riley’s stats have proved anyone who said that was an idiot. I don’t think people realize how low some people were on Riley and how low some people are on Bohm right now. “OMG. He wasn’t an All Star his rookie year. Let’s just assume he hits like this for the rest of his career even though he is only 22 and still adjusting!” That’s what people were saying about Riley. They said he could never hit the breaking ball. Then they said he could never hit the fastball (even though he already proved he could). They are young.
I understand and love the Sabermetrics stuff. The only issue with it is that Sabermetrics assume players never change or adjust. Every prediction they come up with is based on the idea that every player does the exact same thing every year. I get that with veterans. They fall into a pattern. To assume every 20,21,22 year old is going to swing the bat the exact same way for the rest of their career is just stupid. They are young. They are adjusting. They are adjusting at the plate and swinging the bat in a different way. How many Hall of Famers didn’t adjust to the league between their age 22 season and when they retired?
tldr
yeah, I like Riley and Devers as possible comps. a decent few hit-first 3B have become better players after sophmore slumps recently. Bohm has the talent to do it too.
Who’s gon play 3rd
Probably Torreyes.
Yes that would be smart
yeah, you know, as he has been the past week plus.
Miller, Torreyes and Williams can all play 3rd. Even Segura can in a pinch.
Forgot about Miller
Bohm or bust.
Hopefully Bohm gets his reset. Hope Lehigh plays him every day at 1B and /or 3rd . Kinda makes you second-guess whether DD should have taken those trade scenarios more seriously. I realize the optics of trading two of your top prospects aren’t good, but Howard was in a similar place.
LF
Me-thinks Bohm starts playing LF…His arm is wasted @1b and he can’t field at a decent level @3b….
What was the point in letting Bohm rot on the bench the past two weeks? They should’ve sent him down way before now so he could work on some things and build back his confidence.
because of the lack of a true 1B on the team with Hoskins out
Von Purple Hayes is smiling now.
2 homers (so far) by Hoskins in his return. Desperately missed from this lineup.
I hope he doesn’t turn out to be Kingery 2.0. At least if they transition him to Left, they have a good FA class to get a new SS (move didi to 3rd).
If Didi isn’t playing SS he isn’t worth putting in a lineup. There is no reason to move Bohm to left right now as there isn’t a long term 3B option and if he can get right he is far more valuable in the infield.
Have you seen his defense? Believe me, I want him to succeed, but he cannot play there long term. I think he has the speed and can track flyballs well enough to play Left. Didi has been a defensive liability too at Short. Asking for trouble if you keep him there.
Didi can’t hit. He can’t really hit enough for SS. He definitely can’t hit enough for 3B.
You’re not wrong…that being said they are on the hook for like 14MM next season. If they keep him at short than they will have another poor defensive year on the left side. Is that worth it?
Padres fan, here. The Series is over Philly Fans. A win today, and we take the Series with you guys, and we remain where we belong in the Wild Card Game Standings.
Padres and Mets have something in common. They’ll be watching October this year. Padres aren’t that good and they are about to have the worst month bc of the hard schedule they play.
DID YOU HUST ADMIT THE METS WONT MAKE THE POSTSEASON?!?!
But only because the Mets have faced injuries. It really is unfair that only Mets players got hurt this year. Seems like collusion.
They have been the most hurt team…
However, things get even more problematic when you realize the Padres and Mets competition is the Reds (just lost a series to the Cubs), Cardinals (pathetic offense) and Phillies (another pathetic offense). Three more just painfully flawed teams.
The Reds are 30-17 since July 1. The Cubs had lost 12 in a row prior to that series with the Reds so they were due to win a couple of games. The Reds biggest flaw was their bullpen and it’s not perfect but it’s a lot better than what they were running out there from April to June. They’re a much better team than a lot of people want to give them credit for.
What do you expect out of teams fighting for 5th place in a 15 team league? Perfect teams? Of course they have flaws. If they didn’t have flaws, they probably wouldn’t be fighting for 5th place. All 5 of those teams, Padres and Mets included are painfully flawed.
@joeitall The Cincinnati Reds are NOT a good baseball team. They are WILDLY inconsistent. Good teams don’t lose a series at home to a reeling Cubs team when an opportunity to seize control of a wildcard slot is at hand. There is a reason why Milwaukee is dominating this division. Cincinnati has average starting pitching. A shaky bullpen and a weak offense that has no consistency whatsoever. Take away wildcard slots for the playoffs and Cincinnati would already be back into the FULL rebuild this organization needs to do ….. or maybe …… move to Las Vegas?????
The only part you have right is the shaky bullpen. Their starting pitching is better than average and their offense is definitely not weak. Their lineup is actually pretty damn good and you obviously haven’t watched them play much. If you go by the team hitting statistics they have a Top 5 offense in all of baseball. You can claim they’re not a good baseball team but the numbers back up that they indeed are a good baseball team.
Phillies fan, here. You guys are no different than us. For all you put into this team there’s a good chance you won’t make the postseason. That’s embarrassing. You “should” be running away with a playoff spot but instead you are average at best.
Rsk, not a fan of either team but the Pads are only struggling because their rotation has been bit by the injury bug the worst this season. That doesn’t bode well in a division with 2 other juggernauts. The Phils just suck in general.
Except it looks like you’re going to be a game behind in the wild card in another half hour or so. Everybody has talked all season about the NL West having three teams in the playoffs and the Reds have just kept playing better baseball and changed that narrative pretty quick.
@DiehardFriarsFanFromThe619 This post didn’t age well. Sorry, bud. Looks like the Pads are toast, but to be fair, their entire starting rotating has been decimated. I don’t understand why their offense is so cold, but that’ll get going again soon.
Hoskins makes this lineup so much better. Fans under rate him. Two years in a row his absence (due to injury) showed that he is vital for this offense.
As for Bohm, real shame. That kid can really rake in the minors and looked good last year in the bigs, but his glove is horrendous and the sophomore slump at the plate really makes him unuseable.
I don’t see this team competing with the Braves. Just not deep enough. The stars are really good, but the bottom of the order and the bench are automatic outs. Defense is atrocious. I like their rotation and their pen looks better of late. Looks like another .500ish season.
Yeah Phillies will finish in 3rd. But you guys need to a closer this offseason and maybe you could sign marte on a short deal.
the Mets will finish 4th then, I presume?
Nah he thinks the Mets are 7 up on the braves then the other way around
I’d rather finish 4th than 3rd and take the slightly higher draft pick
The way they’ve been playing, Phillies and Mets could be passed by the Marlins. I mean I don’t think so, but it’s possible. These are extremely flawed teams.
@Von. I appreciate the way you check your team, unlike some posters on this board that follow NLE teams I think this shows your objectivity.
Agree that the Phillies and Mets are extremely flawed. It may also reflect a pair of teams that refused to blow up a roster and rebuild both at Minor and Major League levels in favor of adding and paying big dollars for high priced talent and hope for the best rather than truly build a strong organization from top to bottom. it takes time and is painful, but done correctly can reap benefits of a contending team for 10+ years.
That’s the way the Braves have done it for decades now…building from within. Obviously everyone in Atlanta wishes they had won more World Championships but you can’t win it all without getting to the postseason first.
We’ll see guys and gals. A bit under 40 games left still to play ball.
Things could look a bit better in 2022…So with $ coming off the books next season; Phillies sign Correa @ss, Gregorius to 2nd, Segura to 3rd, Bohm to LF.
Miller, Torreyes, Williams back to fill in, NOT start like 2021. Stott gets a 1/3 of the season in the bigs….
In 2023 Gregorious/Segura gone and Stott takes one of 2b/3b…..
Not as bleak as some posters think…
They still have to manage to find starting pitching too. Things aren’t as positive as you think either.
Wheeler, Nola, Gibson, Eflin, Suarez. I’m happy with that rotation. Not to mention Moore seems to gave turned a corner. Of course they can always upgrade, but for the first time in many years, I’m good with the Phillies rotation…on paper of course.
and there’s enough money coming off the books this offseason wherein they can move Suarez back to the pen and get a nice SP5 for cheap-ish.
Ok, so what do we do about Didi? He is worse than Bohm. Great give him more at bats in triple A, but for the love of all that is holy move Didi down to at least 7 in the batting order.
10 consecutive non-winning seasons should come with a penalty of forced relocation. Enter the Halifax Demon Ducks.
Still a shot at finishing above .500 this year, but Phillies are trying their best not to. I kind of like the idea of punishing teams for losing too much. What’s funny is, the Phillies are clearly trying to win and spend, they’re just not good at it.
Another high draft pick by Philly that fails to develop. Bohm now has bust written all over him. Philadelphia is struggling mightily as an organization right now. Remember during the offseason and the media gurus were telling you how Spencer Howard was gonna be ready to step in and join the rotation. Where is he at again??
he’s played about a year’s worth of games in the Major Leagues and has looked good in at least half of them. give the kid a break. sophmore slumps happen.
Bohm to LV makes all the sense in the world. Maybe should have been done a month ago.
Hoskins back will help a bunch.
The Bohm train runoff the tracks pretty hard this year.
I feel like they should give Luke Williams a shot at 3rd but they probably wont, just let him do nothing on the bench.
They’ve been starting Luke Williams sporadically in the outfield. And he has done absolutely nothing at the plate. But I like the kid defensively.
He played 2B/3B in the minors so I feel like he would do well at his natural position. None of the other infielders are hitting that well besides Segura so it wouldn’t hurt.
Tough love for Bohm. Maybe the shock of being demoted will lead to the work to unlock his talent and turn it into production.
Phailing in the majors was not an acceptable solution.
Alec Bohm is hitting better than Brad Miller. I assume PHI wants to try to tweak something in Bohm at this time.
The players acquired in recent trades are not playing well for PHI.
what? Kennedy has done his job, Gibson has provided what was advertised, and Galvis has been injured. not to mention, of the four young guys dealt in the TEX trade, Crouse has pitched the best. what about that is “not playing well?”
Yea. As DarkSide pointed out the trades have really worked out. It’s the core that’s been the problem.
Yeah the closer with a 5.63 ERA and a 8.42 FIP since being acquired. That guy?
The closer with 0 blown saves and who’s come up in multiple big up multiple times. The closer who helped stabilize the entire bullpen. Sometimes giving up homeruns when you have 3+ lead is better than giving up multiple baserunners.
He hasn’t blown a save which says he’s “doing his job” but those numbers are ugly. Quite honestly, it’s a miracle he hasn’t blown multiple saves
He didn’t stabilize the pen alone. Removing Neris and putting him in a different role for him to thrive was key
They got the guy for basically nothing so I guess beggars can’t be choosers
That’s what I meant by stabilizing the pen. Having a real closer allowed other pitchers to move into different roles. It also vastly improved the SP as we no longer have to use Anderson or Valezquez.
small sample size. those numbers have improved recently.
WTF happened to OF Adam Haseley for the Phillies ?
He’s in Lehigh and he hasn’t been hitting good enough there to get called up.
Another atrocious draft pick is the answer.
The Phillies totally ruined one of the best second base prospects in the game in Scott Kingery and sadly are on the way with Bohm. Bohm is not a Major League 3B by any stretch. He all of a sudden didn’t become a poor fielding 3B once reaching the Majors. This is another example of the Phillies forcing a prospect to a position of need rather than doing what is right for him. He needs to be retrained as an outfielder. He may never become great at it but his defensive shortcomings won’t be as noticeable. I’m hoping they give this kid the opportunity he needs to succeed. But it’s the Phillies, so I’m not optimistic about it.
The Phillies didn’t ruin anyone. Players switch positions all the time. Kingery just isn’t good.
This team should have sold at the deadline.Bohm should have been sent down 2 months ago,He will join the long list of failed young players Dominic Brown,Scott Kingery,Spencer Howard to just name a few.They can not score runs unless they hit HR’s.The manager is horrible with handling pitchers.THEY HAVE NO CHANCE OF WINNING THIS YEAR OR THE NEXT FIVE the Braves and Marlins will own this division for years to come.
Was looking at expected ave/oba statcast numbers a month or two ago trying to figure out why Arenado was performing so much better than Bohm as both were on my team. Pretty much came down to launch angle and k % – Bohm was equal to or outperforming Arenado at the time in pretty much every other category. Not terribly concerned about the strikeouts, but the launch angle issue is an off-season fix. Sending him down to get in a rhythm and his confidence back for the final push is all they can ask for hitting wise this year. Platoon him with Miller.
Now lets fire the horrible pitching coach and the hitting coach.Padres fired Larry Rothschild who was Girardi PC in New York bring him in nothing to lose at least he has a pretty good track record lets see what he can do with this band of misfits.HC needs to be old school no launch angles and it is ok to strike out and no analytics.Im thinking Milt Thompson,Gary Matthews both still work for the Phillies