SEATTLE — When Alec Bohm hit on the field in St. Louis two weeks ago, a bit of peace washed over him.He didn’t want to worry about his mechanics. He didn’t want to think about where he was placing his hands on the bat. He didn’t want to think about which body part was where as he swung. So many of those thoughts had haunted him this season, rather than:“Just standing there knowing that I’ve worked on all of this stuff.” Bohm said, “I’ve done a lot. Just hit.”That is the mentality Bohm has tried to embrace the last two weeks — a stretch in which he’s hit .404 with 13 RBI, including a walk-off that kept the Phillies’ win streak alive last Friday. It follows what has been a difficult year on and off the field that may just be the last of Bohm’s Phillies tenure as he approaches free agency this offseason.
BOHM SENDS US HOME! pic.twitter.com/ec9jBqKEga
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) August 22, 2026It has been seven seasons of dramatic ups and downs for Bohm: a benching and helmet spike in the 2024 NLDS, several instances of the Phillies trying to shop him, an All-Star appearance while recording 2.8 bWAR in 2024, questions over whether he belonged in the clean-up spot, 471 career RBI, and expletives amid a three-error game.Bohm’s Phillies career has been sometimes frustrating, sometimes exciting, sometimes perplexing. But the best adjective to describe Bohm’s 2026 is tumultuous.He was one of the worst hitters in the majors during the first half; his average (.215) ranked 15th-worst among qualified hitters, his OBP (.278) eighth-worst and his OPS 14th-worst. None of it was ideal — not for the Phillies, floundering their way through April, or Bohm in his walk year. And all of it unfolded as Bohm sues his parents for alleged financial mismanagement.The Bohm of previous years may have wallowed in his struggles at the plate. This year has been different.“There kind of came a point,” Bohm said, “where I was just like, ‘Alright. The numbers are what the numbers are.’ I’m not going to try to put so much time, effort and focus on trying to, like, save my season and get to these certain numbers or whatever I’m chasing. (I decided to) just prepare and play the game instead of like, ‘Oh I feel like this is a matchup. I should be good against this game.’ … It’s turned to more, just have good at-bats, get a good pitch and simplify along those lines.“Everybody that gets in the lineup every day is going to have a stretch where they’re 0-for-20,” he added. “It’s just accepting that, and not letting it make your time here miserable. Because if you’re just sitting here chasing all these numbers and really living and dying by each at-bat, you’re not going to enjoy this.”If Bohm sounds like he’s grown up a bit, maybe that’s because he has. Being one of the worst hitters in the majors for months is challenging for anyone. That this could be it for him in Philadelphia has prompted some reflection.“If this is the last season I play here with these guys,” Bohm said, “I want to remember it as good and positive — not sitting here, face buried in an iPad trying to figure out how I can raise my batting average.”Bohm’s attitude, his coaches said, has been different this season. When Bohm makes a mistake, infield coach Bobby Dickerson said, it is not as “world-ending” as in previous years. And hitting coach Kevin Long said Bohm’s approach toward adversity has been the best of his career. There have been pep talks, Long said, but: “He hasn’t felt sorry for himself. He’s just stayed the path.”As Bohm struggled at the plate in the first half, his batting average on balls in play hit .225 — third-worst in the majors. Long felt that was unsustainable, particularly given how often Bohm puts bat to ball and how little he strikes out. So much of his contact either generated groundballs or lineouts straight to the defense. It was happening even just two weeks ago, when Bohm hit a ball 102.7 mph that was caught at the top of Busch Stadium’s center-field wall.Bohm’s timing and ability to catch the ball out front, Long said, have helped. And another small change may also have benefited him, both mentally and timing-wise. In St. Louis, he decided to pick up his front foot more until he gets to two strikes or if the pitcher throws hard.“I feel like I didn’t have any real two-strike adjustment or change,” Bohm said, “and I was doing the same thing throughout the whole at-bat instead of having a different club in my bag, per se. Like, ‘Alright. I feel a little rushed off this guy. Let me go to this. I’ve got to feel like I’ve got time, gather myself a bit more.’”Whatever it is — the adjustment, the shift in attitude, feeling less worried about where his hands and body are while batting, the confidence that comes with stringing together good games — has worked the past two weeks.There still have been moments of frustration. Not even three weeks ago, Bohm threw something in the dugout after swinging at the first pitch he saw against the Blue Jays to ground into a force play at the plate with the bases loaded. It was a miserable at-bat that epitomized the free-swinging that has sometimes plagued this Phillies team until its recent stretch.Alec Bohm caught fire during the Phillies’ recent nine-game winning streak after a rough first half of the season. (Heather Barry / Getty Images)Less than a week later, the Phillies were launching home runs into the Iowa corn, kicking off a run of nine straight wins. Bohm slashed .457/.472/.743 with a 1.215 OPS over that stretch.“Looking back three weeks ago,” Bohm said on Monday, “I was driving in runs, but I thought, ‘I’m not having a very good year.’ It’s just a reminder of how quickly those things can change.”This team, which has now lost two in a row after Tuesday night’s 4-1 defeat to the Seattle Mariners and struggled to hit against a a sub-.500 team (that has stellar starting pitching), is confounding. Maybe Bohm will ground into a double-play in his next game. Maybe he will launch a home run. The probability of those events has swung wildly in recent weeks. But no one will know until it all unfolds.Whatever happens next — this week, or months from now — Bohm is striving toward something.“I just really wanted to not look back on my time here and remember, ‘Oh, I was kind of sour, not having a good time, because I wasn’t playing as good as I wanted to,” Bohm said. “(I want to) remember how fun and special this group was, and all the good times I had up to this point — and the good times the rest of the year.”
