At the beginning of the season, most Philadelphia Phillies fans would likely have identified Bryson Stott as the young player most likely to make a great leap forward. The Fightin’ faithful love to compare Stott to the team’s most recent star second baseman, Chase Utley.
They bear a passing resemblance to each other, and they both are termed “gritty” quite often. However, while Stott is having a pretty good year thus far — as is the entire Phillies offense — he isn't the young Phillies player making the most convincing argument for inclusion on the National League All-Star team.
That would be Alec Bohm, the 27-year-old third baseman.
The 6-foot-5 infielder initially struck some as too tall and gangly to play his assigned position, and that same ungainliness led to some awkward batting swings early in his career. However, Bohm has been cutting down his strikeouts per game every year since he became a regular Phillies player. That rate was 0.97 sit-downs per game in 2021, which fell to 0.72 in 2022 and then fell again to 0.65 in 2023. This year the early rate is also 0.65.
With the drop between 2022 and 2023 came a huge RBI jump from 72 to 97.
An early call for Phillies’ Alec Bohm to start the All-Star Game
Now, about seven weeks into the current season, Bohm is near the top of MLB leaderboards for third basemen, both offensively and defensively.
In batting average, Bohm is first at .333, 32 points ahead of Colorado’s Ryan McMahon. In RBI, Bohm leads the NL with 35, trails just Cleveland’s José Ramirez (37) across MLB. The Cubs’ Christopher Morel is third with 27.
On defense, Baseball Savant says the gangly kid is second in the NL at his position in Outs Above Average with two, behind Nolan Arenado (4 OAA). In Runs Prevented, Bohm is again second by only one, with two, behind Arenado. This is worth mulling over for a moment. Right now, Alec Bohm trails only Arenado in two defensive metrics. Arenado is often complimented as the best third baseman since Mike Schmidt.
All of this is a strong argument for voting for Bohm to start at third for the NL in this summer’s All-Star Game. Of course, he could cool off, but right now, Bohm’s oWAR figure is 1.9 while Arenado’s is 0.6, according to Baseball Reference.
In terms of dWAR, Arenado’s whole Gold Glove career has seen him post positive figures including five years of numbers between and including 2.0 and 2.8 (and a year leading MLB with 1.4). This year, however, his dWAR is -0.2. Bohm’s current figure is -0.1.
Will Alec Bohm get recognition over established names?
However, even if Bohm continues to perform for the coming weeks before All-Star voting closes, will he be chosen by the fans to start? Arenado is now a legend; his name is readily recognized by fans in Milwaukee, Baltimore, and Seattle. Bohm’s name may not be yet.
Also, Phillies don’t always do that well in All-Star fan voting. Fightin’ fans don’t always fight for their stars.
However, there is hope for Bohm if Arenado garners more fan votes than him. Should that occur, Bohm could simply win the players’ vote and become a backup, or should the players also select Arenado first and Bohm second, Bohm will automatically be the backup at third.
If Bohm continues to play well, it’s a little hard to imagine the players voting him no higher than third.