Bohm dissects tough start: 'I guess the game’s trying to teach me a lesson'

ST. LOUIS -- Alec Bohm cannot change anything that has happened in the season’s first 17 days.

But he would trade a few hard-hit outs for a few cheap broken-bat hits in the next few days, if he could.

He would love that.

In the meantime, he will keep trying to hit the ball hard, while everybody else dissects everything else.

"I feel like everything is very, very overanalyzed that I do on the baseball field,” Bohm said before Saturday’s 4-1 win over the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. “From the moment I step on it to the moment I step off it. But again, that’s out of my control.”

Bohm entered Saturday batting .151 with no home runs, three RBIs and a .336 OPS. He is the first Phillies player to have a .337 OPS or lower through 12 starts to begin a season since Bryson Stott (.289) in 2022.

Stott was a rookie then, trying to make the most of inconsistent playing time. But Bohm is the Phillies’ All-Star third baseman. He had 97 RBIs in each of the past two seasons.

He opened the season hitting third or fourth in the lineup. He hit eighth on Saturday.

"I guess the game’s trying to teach me a lesson maybe,” Bohm said.

Bohm has suffered some bad luck. He has the highest average exit velocity (92.9 mph) and hard-hit rate (52.4 percent) of his career. He hit two more balls hard in Friday’s 2-0 loss to St. Louis. Both were outs. He has hit 14 balls at 100 mph or harder this season, which is tied for 28th in baseball.

But Bohm has just four hits (.286) out of those 14. He hit a line drive at 105.3 mph in the second inning on Thursday, but Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies caught it.

Bohm flipped his bat in the air.

"It’s like, alright. I guess we’re doing this,” he said.

This season, big leaguers are batting .543 on balls hit 100 mph or harder. They have hit .611 since Statcast started measuring exit velocities in 2015.

"Everywhere I turn, it’s, oh, look at your expected numbers, look at this, keep your head up, it’s going to be OK,” Bohm said.

"I just keep hitting balls hard and they keep going at people. There’s really nothing I can do about it. I know eventually everything sort of evens out. I know that I’ve hit well over .400 for an entire month in this league multiple times. As far as me being worried about anything, no. But I’d like it to end.”

Bohm has been under a magnifying glass since Spring Training opened in February. He struggled in the second half last season, got benched in Game 2 of the NLDS, then became the subject of offseason trade talks.

So, people notice every time he shows any frustration on the field.

"The longer you play in the big leagues and the more experience you get and the more comfortable you get with who you are and that you belong here -- all that stuff -- I think the less anything really affects you,” Bohm said. “Just other people’s opinions and whatnot. The more you’ve been here, the more you know you’re going to be here, the more you’re confident in what you’ve done here, I guess more of that stuff just kind of fades away. People can say what they’re going to say. People are going to think what they’re going to think. That’s their thoughts, their opinions. You just kind of stay in this dugout and play the game.”

Bohm said he has not changed his pregame work or in-game approach because of his slump. Everything is there, he said.

Well, except the hits.

"It’s nothing to do with the swing,” he said. “If I’m going to try to change anything or do anything different, we’re not really being wise at this point.

"I hit the ball hard, do my job, do what I can, show up, work hard, prepare, go up there and take my at-bats. The results aren’t happening right now. But at some point this year they’re going to happen, and I’ve got to think for some extended period of time I’m also going to get some luck, too. When we look up at the end of the year, I’m going to be right around .280. I’m going to be right around 100 RBIs. I’m going to be right around everywhere I’m supposed to be.”