Phillies’ Alec Bohm moving past 2021 struggles; changes paying off early

LAKELAND, Fla. — Phillies infielder Alec Bohm took some time to clear his head over the winter. After his 2021 season, there was a lot to unpack. The bar was set high after Bohm’s rookie season, in which he hit .338/.400/.481, and nearly won the National League Rookie of the Year award. In that context, his sophomore season felt underwhelming. Bohm hit .247/.305/.342 in 2021 and led the NL in errors committed as a third baseman, with 15.

“I learned a lot, man,” he said in a media availability on Friday after the Phillies’ 6-6 tie with the Tigers. “I think the biggest thing I really take away is, throughout probably one of my worst years of baseball, I hit around league average and obviously have to be better defensively.

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“Looking back on that, there’s some stretches there where I could have easily got out of my own way. I could have ended up hitting better with maybe a few less errors. I think that’s what I’ve been learning. It’s a long year. If you have one bad day, don’t turn it into two or three.”

League average is something Bohm can build on, and has already started to build on, with Phillies hitting coach Kevin Long. Before the lockout, Bohm met with Long, and they worked on shortening up his swing, and getting closer to the hitting position. The minor tweaks have made a big impact so far, and he felt it in his first spring training game on Friday.

“I don’t know if it looks a whole lot different,” Bohm said, “but for me, it feels a lot more under control in the stride and all of that. Today, the ball didn’t feel fast to me. I think that’s one thing I noticed. It’s slowing down the ball and the game a little bit for me.”

Bohm has also been working closely with infield coach Bobby Dickerson to clean up his defense. Dickerson, who was an infield coach with the Phillies in 2019 before moving to the Padres in 2020, was gone by the time Bohm had made his big-league debut in 2020.

The Phillies hired him back in October, and Dickerson has tried to impart a different mentality for Bohm as he prepares to field a ball.

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“It’s a kind of a different approach to catching the ball than we’ve all been taught growing up,” Bohm said. “At least for me. He’s really just separating the catch and the throw. Instead of thinking about fielding it in one big thing and you’re trying to throw while you’re catching it. He’s really preaching separating the catch and the throw. That’s something that I really thought I did. But it’s not something I’ve ever thought of like that.

“When we think of fielding, we think of fielding as one thing. Not catch the ball, throw the ball. Separating that has been helpful for me. It sounds extremely simple, right? But in the grand scheme of things, you don’t think about it like that.”

Beyond on-field changes, Bohm would like to approach his 2022 campaign with more confidence in his abilities. He knows how important it would be to the Phillies if he bounced back, but is trying not to put too much pressure on himself.

“I was trying too hard,” he said. “Obviously, I know what I’m capable of. And I have pretty high expectations of myself. When you’re not performing to that level, it’s frustrating. It sucked. Obviously, I want to help the team win. Learn how to relax a little bit and be in it for the long run.”

Ranger Suárez threw a 25-pitch bullpen session and said he felt no ill effects from a 10-day layoff while obtaining his work visa in Colombia. Despite the compressed spring training, it’s possible the lefty could be ready for an on-time start to the season.

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“It felt really good,” Suárez said through a team translator. “I feel healthy. I’m just waiting to see what the big bosses say and we’ll go from there.”

Suárez had a breakout season in 2021, posting a 1.36 ERA in 106 innings. He said he isn’t changing much of what he did last year save for trying a new grip on his slider that he picked up while playing catch with Phillies pitching prospect Francisco Morales.