Bohm's clutch gene making him feared across the bigs

This story was excerpted from Todd Zolecki’s Phillies Beat newsletter, written this week by Paul Casella. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

When it comes time for Bryce Harper to teach his kids how to swing a bat, one would assume he will simply teach them the swing that has made him a two-time MVP, seven-time All-Star and three-time Silver Slugger winner.

Those folks would be wrong.

Instead, Harper plans to teach them to swing like Phillies teammate Alec Bohm.

"I always tell him, 'If I'm going to teach my kids how to hit, it's going to be like you,'" Harper said. "Just because he's a big man and he's got a little man's swing. It's just a really good swing. Very easy. He can hit to all fields. He's going to hit for power and average."

Harper is far from the only one taking notice.

For the longest time, facing Harper with a base open in extra innings of a tie game typically meant one thing -- an intentional walk.

But last Saturday, Nationals manager Dave Martinez opted to face Harper instead of loading the bases for Bohm.

The reason?

"Bohm’s been really, really good," Martinez said after the Phillies' 4-3 win courtesy of Harper's walk-off sacrifice fly.

That's one way to put it.

Bohm entered Saturday slashing .314/.370/.505 with an MLB-leading 20 doubles and 46 RBIs (third-most in the Majors). He's done enough that opposing managers are starting to rethink whether it's worth intentionally walking one of the most feared hitters of this generation ahead of Bohm.

Prior to last Saturday, Harper had three plate appearances with a base open and the game tied in extra innings this season. He was intentionally walked in all three. It also happened last Sept. 22 against the Mets, when they intentionally walked Harper before Bohm immediately delivered a walk-off hit.

Martinez wasn't about to fall victim to that same fate.

"I didn’t think much of it in the moment, but [Matt] Strahm came up to me after the game was like, 'Hey, they just pitched to Bryce Harper to not pitch to you,'" Bohm said. "So I took that as a little token of respect, for sure. Whether they do or don't walk him, it doesn't change much to me, but that was kind of a cool little thing to know people are respecting what I'm doing."

It's becoming impossible for anyone to ignore what Bohm is doing, especially with runners on base.

He entered Saturday hitting .329 with any runners on base over the past two seasons. He was hitting .359 with runners in scoring position during that stretch -- and .352 with runners in scoring position and two outs. All of those marks rank in the Top 10 across the Majors in their respective categories.

The only other player to rank among the Top 10 in all three is Mookie Betts.

"My overall approach with guys on base doesn't change that much," Bohm said. "I think there's just a little less of that thought that creeps into my head like, 'Oh, hit a home run here,' you know? We're all guilty of that sometimes."

It's not as if Bohm is a bad hitter with the bases empty -- he's slashing .246/.303/.394 since the start of 2023 -- but there's a noticeable jump with men on base. The 86-point difference in his average with runners on as opposed to with the bases empty is the fifth-largest jump among 161 players with at least 250 plate appearances with runners on base.

Bohm says he doesn't necessarily shorten his swing to a two-strike approach with runners on. Instead, it's just a "less big swing."

Or, again, as Harper put it: A “big man” with “a little man's swing.”

Whatever it is, it's made Bohm one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball with traffic on the basepaths.

"We joke around in the clubhouse saying, 'The game can't start unless Bohm is here,'" teammate Bryson Stott said. "It's impressive. Just kind of hitting behind him for so long now -- a guy who had 90-something RBIs last year and already has 40-something this year -- he's usually going to take care of it.”

So does Stott ever have any resentment that Bohm is cutting into some of his RBI opportunities?

"No, no, no," Stott said with a laugh. "I don't care about that. As long as they're getting in."

But Bohm may be the only one not in awe of his numbers.

"As soon as you start getting into it and digging yourself and all that, the game's going to humble you real quick," Bohm said. "So I think, for me, it's just kind of taking it day by day and staying humble."