You know how when you’ve watched the Nationals and Braves throughout the years and, even though they weren’t always viewed as the best player on the team, Anthony Rendon and Freddie Freeman always felt like they were going to get that back-breaking hit that would sink the Phillies.
Well, that’s how I feel about Alec Bohm.
Even though Bryce Harper and J.T Realmuto are the two best players on the Phillies, I trust Bohm to consistently barrel up the baseball and deliver back-breaking hits to Phillies opponents for the next decade.
Bohm’s a special offensive player, but what makes him special?
Let’s find out.
1. Consistent ability to barrel up the baseball
There’s something special about watching guys that consistently make hard contact and ever since he’s been called up, Bohm has shown the ability to get the barrel to the baseball repeatedly. We can all see that with our eyes, but it’s nice when the eye-test is backed up by stats.
Bohm is in the top 25 in all of baseball in barrel% at 15% and within the top 5 in hard-hit% with 57%. What does that mean? It means that 57% of the time Bohm is at the dish, he’s hitting the ball 95+ MPH off the bat.
Not only does Bohm barrel up the baseball at a consistent rate, but he also hits the ball extremely hard when he does it. Both good indicators for future success.
2. He doesn’t chase out of the zone
Okay, now that we know that Bohm does damage on pitches within the strike-zone, the next concern is that Major League pitchers will breaking-ball him into the ground and get him to chase, right?
Well, the second thing that makes Bohm such a special offensive player is that he doesn’t chase bad pitches out of the zone. He is so in control of his strike-zone that he knows if a pitch is a strike or not and when to attack.
His O-swing%, which is the percentage of swings on pitches that are outside of the strike-zone, is 22%. This is also good for being in the top 20 of all Major League Baseball.
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3. He can drive the ball to all fields
There’s nothing worse as a pitcher than a right-handed hitter that you know can drive the ball to all parts of the field. Bohm is that kind of hitter.
The third thing that makes Bohm such a special offensive player is that he can beat you multiple ways, with pop.
Right now, Bohm is hitting 57% of his batted-balls to centerfield. That’s the definition of staying up the middle. Only 23% of his batted-balls have been pulled and 19% have gone to the opposite way.
His home last night is the perfect example of this. A hanging curveball on the outside part of the plate that he took 450 ft to dead centerfield.
4. He’s not prone to strike-outs
The most refreshing thing about Alec Bohm when he first got drafted was how much he said he hated to strike-out and what we’ve seen so far in the bigs backs that up.
Bohm does two things well to avoid striking out.
He attacks early in counts. Bohm is a super-aggressive hitter that likes to jump on pitchers early in counts, which is refreshing.
When he gets behind in counts, he fouls pitches off to get himself into a hitters count.
Right now, Bohm is striking out in 15% of at bats, which would put him within the top 30 in Major League Baseball.
So just to recap, Bohm consistently barrels up the baseball, he doesn’t chase outside of the zone, he can hit to all fields and he doesn’t strike out. Sounds like a pretty special offensive player to me!
5. His pregame eye training routine
I know the linked tweet is a joke about the Phillies bullpen, but the main reason Alec Bohm is a special offensive player is because of his pregame eye training routine.
Tell me this guy isn’t going to hit .300 with 25-30 bombs for at least a decade after seeing that pregame eye routine. You can’t.