Phillies Select Alec Bohm, 3B in First Round

With the 3rd overall pick, the Phillies took a 3rd Baseman from Wichita State named Alec Bohm (rhymes with home for all your pun planning). Bohm is a 6’5”, 240 lbs Right Handed power hitter. Scouts are mixed on his ability to stay at 3rd, but his Defense in Wichita State looked to play solid average. Even if he does move to First he has 70 grade power that will play anywhere on the field. Here’s what I wrote about him in my preview:

Defensively there are some questions about Bohm. His arm is good enough for Third, but just barely. His footwork looks better this year, but he still doesn’t look terribly natural at Third and his range is not particularly great. The scouting consensus I’ve read seems to be that he can probably stay at Third and his bat can make up for average to below average Defense.

Bohm is also not particularly fast. He’s a 45 grade runner with some build up speed. That said, he’s reminiscent for me of the Phillies’ own Dylan Cozens in that, while not fast, he’s a smart baserunner. Aggressive, but not unaware of his limitations, he’ll take the basewhen the throw passes a cut off man or goes to the baserunner ahead of him, but if he takes a wide turn at First and sees it might be close at Second he’s been good at backing off in the film I’ve seen.

Bohm’s best tool is really his Power. Most reports I’ve seen list it at Grade 70 for Raw and game power more in the 55-60 range... I think a pro team is going to try to make a few adjustments on his swing. First, I think they’d try to close his stance as the Phillies have worked on with Franco this year. Second I think they’d try to get more leg kick to get to his power more consistently (though he is very disciplined about shortening his swing and eliminating his kick entirely in 2 strike counts). Another item to work on is that in a lot of video, reports and the 2 games I’ve watched, he is a really pull happy hitter. Closing the stance a little should help with that and the kick may keep him back so he can drive opposite field more, but he runs the risk of being fairly susceptible to shifts to the Third Base side.