Can Phillies 3B Alec Bohm recapture 2020 form?

Philadelphia Phillies 3B Alec Bohm has struggled for most of the 2021 season, and NBC Sports EDGE's D.J. Short explains why mixed-league managers will have to temper expectations for him moving forward.

Video Transcript

DJ SHORT: Phillies' third baseman, Alec Bohm, impressed during his first chance in the majors last year, hitting .338 with an .881 OPS over 44 games, but he has failed to meet expectations so far this year. Now, the lofty expectations were probably unfair to begin with. Bohm had a .410 batting average on balls in play last season.

But it hasn't been about bad luck this year. Bohm's biggest issue has been a rising strikeout rate. Now, his contact rate isn't much different, but his zone contact percentage is down, and he's making more contact on pitches outside of the strike zone. So he's hitting worse pitches. Bohm still makes hard contact, but, unfortunately, a lot of it is on the ground. He hit the ball on the ground a lot last year as well.

Now, it doesn't help that he plays below-average defense at third base as well. So this is a tough situation for the Phillies. Bohm still has a very promising future, so you don't want to give up on him in a keeper or especially a dynasty format. But it's possible a demotion could be in order as a reset just to get his confidence going again. Expectations should be tempered this year in mixed fantasy leagues though.