From demotion to the NLCS: Phillies’ Alec Bohm has come a long way since last year’s trip to Petco Park

Bohm is back in San Diego almost unrecognizable from the player who was sent to the minors 14 months ago.

Alec Bohm has put his struggles from the 2021 season behind him with a bounce-back campaign in 2022.Read moreJose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

Updated Oct. 18, 2022, 9:48 a.m. ET

Published Oct. 18, 2022, 5:00 a.m. ET

SAN DIEGO — Alec Bohm sat in the manager’s office last summer while they told him he would benefit from being sent to the minors and return an even better player. But Bohm — as Phillies general manager Sam Fuld and former manager Joe Girardi broke the news on a sleepy Sunday morning at Petco Park — wasn’t quite listening.

“That’s not where my head was,” Bohm said. “That’s for sure.”

The third baseman had felt for weeks as if he was falling through quicksand and nothing could stop him no matter how hard he fought. And now — three years after being drafted third overall — he was being sent to the minors just as the Phillies were entering the final month of a playoff race.

“From the outside looking in, and why not, how could you not be happy doing this every day, right?” Bohm said. “But when it hits the fan and you’re struggling and you’re just fighting and doing all this stuff to try and get out and be who you want, then you just sink. It’s hard.”

It was one of the lowest points of Bohm’s career, a crushing culmination to a three-week stretch when he started just a little more than half the games and hit .217 with a .563 OPS over 50 plate appearances.

To make it worse, Bohm couldn’t leave. The Phillies were flying home that evening after their series finale with the Padres. Bohm, no longer a big leaguer, had to wait to fly from San Diego with the major leaguers.

“I just kind of sat there, waited for the game to be over, and got on the plane,” Bohm said.

Bohm — 14 months after sulking at Petco Park — will start here on Tuesday when the Phillies return to the National League Championship Series for the first time since 2010. He improved this season both in the field and at the plate as he worked with infield coach Bobby Dickerson and hitting coach Kevin Long.

His .280 batting average was the team’s second-best mark and he held his own at third base during the second half of the season.

But it is Bohm’s disposition — open and thoughtful instead of guarded and tight — that has seemed to change even more dramatically. The player who will run Tuesday evening to third base is almost unrecognizable from the one who was sent to the minors last summer.

“Playing in college, not like I was a clown, but I played loose and had fun,” said the former Wichita State star. “I got here and didn’t act like myself right away. I’m the young guy, I’m the new guy. I’m just going to be here, contribute, do my thing, and respect everyone, and earn my stripes.”

Fuld and Girardi’s message last summer to Bohm — how he would learn from a demotion and become more resilient — sounds like the boilerplate conversation every time a player is sent to the minor leagues. But this, Fuld said, was different.

“This wasn’t your ordinary demotion,” Fuld said. “He was experiencing a level of failure that he probably had never experienced in his career. A lot of guys you send down, maybe they’re struggling but it’s not the first time that they’ve ever really struggled. For Alec, it probably was the first lengthy dose of adversity that he had at least in a long time. It did feel different. It didn’t feel cliché in any way. It felt really genuine.”

Bohm reported to triple A only to tweak a wrist after six games, another frustrating layer to a difficult season. The setback cost him more than two weeks and he returned to the majors last September just as the Phillies were being eliminated from the playoffs.

But this season was different. He relaxed, keeping his demeanor even after making a throwing error and uttering a now infamous line about Philadelphia. Bohm, 26, seemed refreshed this summer. He said his teammates supported him, reminding him that he belongs in the majors. Then Bohm started to see the results and believed it, too.

“You can definitely see that he’s really comfortable in his own skin, which is fantastic,” Fuld said. “Just really proud of him for how he handled that situation and how he bounced back to be a huge part of what has brought us here. Last year was definitely a challenging year for him. What I think we’re seeing is a very different version of him. He’s come a long way with both baseball skills and his ability to handle the inevitable ups and downs of the baseball season.”

Said Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler: “He’s been big for us all year. He struggled a little bit there at the beginning, but he played through that and picked himself up, and now look at him. He’s starting at third base for us in a big series here, and he’s been really solid for us all year. He’s been a big contributor and is pretty solid at third base.”

The 18-year-old ballpark in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter is home to what Bohm calls a “bad memory.” But it is the way he responded to that moment that allows him to return here this week for the chance to create new memories.

He fielded grounders Monday afternoon with the “NLCS” logo shining behind him on the stadium’s video board. Bohm is playing a starting role for a World Series dreaming team. And he’ll walk Tuesday past the manager’s office — the same one where the news was delivered last summer — and head for the field. Four more wins stand between the Phillies and the pennant.

“I’ve come a long way since those days. Personally, I’m kind of proud of where I’ve come from, and as a team and organization, I’m super proud of where we are,” Bohm said. “When I see myself getting sent down, I also see us not being a playoff team. We’ve come a long way. I don’t know if it fully hit yet, but we’re one of the final four teams.”