Is....is that....is that something to get excited about with the Phillies?

The numbers

180 PA, .338/.400/.481, 4 HR, 23 RBI, 36:16 K/BB, 136 OPS+

The good

The Phillies were struggling.

They needed a spark of some kind, any kind. So they did the sensible thing and brought up Alec Bohm. He was arguably their top prospect and he would add something to a lineup that wasn’t hitting at the time. Jean Segura would be able to handle second base, displacing Scott Kingery and his wretched season. Adding Bohm to the mix would give them a solid infield mix. All they needed him to do was hit.

And that he did.

Bohm was very good when he was here with the team, showing good patience, hitting for power (though more gap power than over the fence) and being pretty much better than many thought he would be when he was drafted. Judging by the deeper dive numbers, all of the stuff he did looks sustainable too.

To me, one of the more impressive things about Bohm in 2020 was how consistent he was. When he was drafted, it was always safely assumed he was going to hit since that was what got him picked #3 overall in the first place. But it was sort of a shock at just how consistent he was with the bat. Did you know: he hit safely in 18 of his last 20 games. That kind of snuck up on me as I was perusing his game log for the year. There may not have been the home run power we were expecting, but that looks like it’ll come with more experience in the big leagues.

The bad

Listen, we don’t have many good things to say about the Phillies’ 2020 season, so let’s just hang our collective hats on the offensive performance Bohm put up.

Let’s not look at his defense because, well....

<shudders>

The future

Pardon me while I get my sunglasses because the future looks bright.

All things being considered, it looks like the team has a true keeper in Bohm. That second place finish in the Rookie of the Year voting is mighty impressive for a team that hasn’t had a Rookie of the Year in a long time. There is also an argument to be made that a position player earned the award more than a relief pitcher, and that Bohm should have won the award.

Putting that aside, the Phillies look like they hit paydirt with this draft pick. Considering this has been a point of weakness lately, that’s a good thing. Let’s just hope that he isn’t a small sample size wonder, and he makes adjustments once teams adjust to him.