Studying Miguel Cabrera helped Alec Bohm become one of the best with runners in scoring position

When Alec Bohm played for Wichita State, hitting coach Brian Walker showed him video clips of Miguel Cabrera. Walker didn’t show him clips of Cabrera hitting solo home runs, although the Detroit Tigers star had plenty of them. He showed Bohm clips of Cabrera hitting with runners in scoring position.

Sometimes, the clips showed Cabrera hitting a double or a home run with runners on. But more times than not, he hit a single through the hole between the first and second basemen. He didn’t overswing. He was disciplined to the middle of the field.

It didn’t take long for the future Phillies third baseman to get the message.

» READ MORE: Phillies’ Brandon Marsh hits the injured list and could be out 2-3 weeks

“There are times when you’ve got to shorten up,” Bohm said. “Everyone loves hitting the first pitch you see over the fence, but it’s not always going to happen. Maybe hitting a ground ball though the four-hole doesn’t look as cool on TV, but it’s little things like that that help teams win.”

Bohm, who was the third overall pick in the 2018 draft, was always able to hit all over the field, even when he was in high school. But it wasn’t until he got to college that he learned how to hit under pressure. He started to understand how he could win a game not by doing too much, but by doing just enough.

Bohm’s situational hitting has been as pivotal as ever this season, at a time when some of his veteran teammates are underperforming. Going into Monday’s games, he ranks second in baseball in hits with runners in scoring position (41), and fourth in hits with runners in scoring position with two outs (18). He’s batting .363/.409/.487 in those spots.

And it all goes back to college. Walker and Bohm overlapped at Wichita State for two seasons. They watched clip after clip, and year after year, Cabrera’s approach became engrained in Bohm. At the end of practices, Walker and head coach Todd Butler held a scrimmage for three innings or so, just to put hitters in different situations.

If there was a runner on third with less than two outs and the infield was playing back, Bohm was taught to hit a ground ball. If there was a runner on second and nobody out, Bohm was taught to hit the ball behind the runner to move him to third. He quickly learned that there were consequences to not producing in those spots.

“If we didn’t get the job done, then we would run,” Bohm said. “And if you weren’t able to move runners over, and drive runners in, then you didn’t really play that much. It wasn’t as likely that your name would be in the lineup. That was how I was taught to hit.

» READ MORE: Bryce Harper: ‘I wish I started my career’ with the Phillies

“If you played the game the right way and helped us win, you would play. If you didn’t play the game the right way, you wouldn’t play. I think the way it was prioritized carried over to summer ball and then to pro ball, and basically everywhere I played.”

Walker knew that showing a young Bohm videos of Cabrera would only reinforce the point. When Bohm arrived at Wichita State as a freshman in 2016, Cabrera was still in the prime of his career. He won the triple crown in 2012, his second MVP award in 2013, and his fourth American League batting title in 2015. And at that time, those Tigers teams were winning.

“We tried to use successful big leaguers, like Cabrera, to show them, ‘Hey look, when you have runners in scoring position, it’s not swing harder or do more, because you want to drive them in — it’s actually the reverse,’” Walker said. “You do less because the pressure is on the pitcher.

“If you’re disciplined to the middle of the field, you’ll be able to cover the fastball and the breaking ball, whereas if nobody is on base, you can be a little more. … and I hate to use this word, but in essence, selfish. Because you can get your best swing off. The team needs you with runners in scoring position to be disciplined to the middle of the field.

“They want to be big leaguers, and this is what successful big leaguers do. So, if this is what you want to become, this is what it looks like and how they do it. Showing them that gives validity to the statement. If you show them — this is the elite and this is them doing it at the highest level — then there’s some buy-in. This is real, and I do need to do this.”

» READ MORE: What the Phillies’ change in plans at the trade deadline could mean this season and beyond

This is not to say that Bohm will become the next Cabrera, but rather that he’s learned from the best. Walker coaches high school baseball in Arkansas now, and like he once did with Bohm, Walker has started to show his young hitters video clips of big leaguers in pivotal moments.

But instead of Cabrera, Walker shows them someone else.

“Alec Bohm,” Walker said. “He’s the Cabrera now, for my high school guys. It’s funny how it all comes full circle.”