Phillies' Don Mattingly steadfast on starting Alec Bohm amid slump

One storyline that has followed the Philadelphia Phillies over the last few seasons has been the progress of their third baseman, Alec Bohm, or, in some cases, the lack thereof. The 29-year-old had a career-best year in 2024, being named to his only All-Star team as a result of his 2.8 WAR and a .280/.332/.448 statline with 15 home runs and 97 RBIs.

In the season that followed, the Phillies slugger would see a slowdown in offensive production, dropping to 59 RBIs across his 120 games, which would be a part of his WAR dropping to 1.5. While these numbers would drop in the regular season, Bohm was on top of things during his four appearances against the Los Angeles Dodgers, hitting with a .333 batting average, as well as showing discipline, walking a total of six times.

These numbers would give the Philadelphia faithful hope that their third baseman might be returning to his old self, the one that was seen in the mid-summer classic, but that hasn’t been the case so far.

Entering Tuesday night’s action, Bohm is slashing .156/.222/.207 with a single home run to his name. These numbers are among the lowest for Phillies players who have consistently appeared in the starting lineup.

Don Mattingly stands by Bohm

Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said he’s not at the point with having to think of something different in regards to Alec Bohm’s performance at the plate.@SportsRadioWIP @KYWNewsradio pic.twitter.com/9SNS2eppbf

Given that Philadelphia is currently playing catch-up following a rough start to the campaign, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Bohm get moved to the bench to experiment, but interim manager Don Mattingly isn’t entirely concerned with his third baseman’s struggles.

“Whenever that is, it’s not now,” Mattingly stated to the press. “I’ve seen Alec, he’s got another big sample that he always hits, smaller sample he’s not hitting right now.”

The Phillies’ skipper reiterated that he isn’t too worried about the 29-year-old’s slump, given that he went through the same thing last year in the early runnings and ended up doing just fine.

“I think last year he may have started off really slow also, so it’s not like this is totally out of the norm…” Mattingly explained. “From my standpoint, I’m confident in him bouncing back.”

To the Phillies’ interim manager’s point, Bohm slugged .324/.364/.510 in May, hitting five home runs and bringing in 13 RBIs across his 27 matches. It’ll be something to look at as the days progress in May, as the Phillies look to climb up the National League East.

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