Jul 30, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies third base Alec Bohm (28) throws his helmet after lining out to end the eleventh inning against the New York Yankees at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports Bill Streicher
Former MLB catch A.J. Pierzynski offered some strong thoughts on Alec Bohm trade rumors when asked about them on Tuesday's edition of "Foul Territory."
Pierzynski was one of the color commentators on FOX's coverage of the NLDS between the New York Mets and Phillies, a series that saw the NL East Champions upset in four games. It also featured Alec Bohm being taken out of the starting lineup in Game 2 in favor of Edmundo Sosa.
So after ESPN's Jeff Passan reported Tuesday that Bohm "finds himself on the trade block," Pierzynski was in position to offer a unique perspective.
"Here's the the biggest thing I'll say about Alec Bohm after being around the Phillies for about a week in the playoffs," Pierzynski said. "He needs to improve things [that are] not his performance. Let's just say that.
"There's some people around that organization that aren't huge fans of the way he acts sometimes. And I'm just gonna leave it at that, but there are some people that have said he needs to basically grow up a little bit. There are some things that he's done that people ... he got benched in the playoffs basically."
Pierzynski's co-host Scott Braun followed up on whether the former All-Star catcher believes that Bohm was benched for something unrelated to his play, or just his on-field struggles at that time.
"It had to do with both," Pierzynski said. "From people ... and this came from people around the Phillies — I'm not saying Dave Dombrowski, or Sam Fuld or Rob Thomson ... none of those people. But it came from people that are around and have a lot of knowledge about the Phillies that he needs to take the next step as a maturing adult. And I think that people, if you watch the Phillies games all the time, you know what I'm talking about."
"He needs to take the next step as a maturing adult."@AJPierzynski12 said he's heard from people around the Phillies that Alec Bohm wasn't just benched in the playoffs due to poor performance. pic.twitter.com/kiZGwGmRHD
Seemingly what Pierzynski is referring to is Bohm, at times, struggling to control his emotions on the field. Are there times over the course of a 162-game season where it's justifiable to throw your helmet down after you don't come through in a big situation or a call goes against you? Yes. Does Bohm throw his helmet on a much more frequent basis than you would like to see? Probably.
When the Phillies were in Kansas City in August, Bohm had quite a bit of family in attendance at Kauffman Stadium. It essentially amounted to a home game for Bohm, who is from Omaha, Nebraska and played collegiately at Wichita State.
Bohm had just one hit in his first nine at-bats in the series, and TV cameras caught Bryce Harper consoling a dejected Bohm late in the second game of the series. Mind you, the Phillies were blowing out the Royals in an eventual 11-2 win:
Bryce 🤝 Alec pic.twitter.com/t0JxMgLMtd
Bohm started at third base for the National League All-Star team this past season, and has driven in 97 runs in consecutive campaigns. Once seen as someone who probably wouldn't stick at third base, Bohm had zero defensive runs saved and four outs above average at the hot corner this past year, a testament to how hard he's worked to improve defensively in the field. A conversation surrounding Bohm's future needs to include the positives as well.
But Bohm is now 28, and has five MLB seasons under his belt. It's good to show emotion once in a while, because it proves you care. But there seems to be a pretty universal opinion that moving forward Bohm might need to be a little more restrained in that regard. We'll see if he gets the chance to make that adjustment as a member of the Phillies or not.
