Phillies Wisely Bench Struggling Slugger in Series Finale Against Athletics

The Philadelphia Phillies will be attempting to sweep the Athletics on Thursday night and have made a switch to their lineup.

While there have been some hot teams around baseball, the Phillies are one of the best of late since the decision to fire Rob Thomson. While that move didn’t come as too much of a surprise, it has created a spark for the organization.

Since taking over, Don Mattingly has only lost one game as the manager and has won all three series he has managed so far, regardless of what happens against the Athletics. This was a stretch of baseball that the team was hopeful to find some success, and that has certainly been the case.

With an upcoming series against the Colorado Rockies over the weekend, they really have a chance to get closer to the .500 mark. However, while things are going well, they recently made a significant change to their lineup on Thursday.

After getting pinch-hit for in the seventh inning of the game on Wednesday night, Alec Bohm is not in the starting lineup for Thursday. Despite Mattingly recently giving him a vote of confidence, pinch-hitting for him one night and benching him the next day certainly sends out some mixed signals.

Right Move to Bench Bohm

Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm warming up — Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

While this might be a little bit surprising based on his comments yesterday, it is the right move. The former All-Star has not been playing well at all this season, and at the very least, getting a day off is needed. So far this season, he has slashed .159/.227/.206 with one home run and 15 RBI in 35 games played. The numbers for him simply are not cutting it, and making a change is smart.

Getting the start at third base against Athletics' right-hander J.T. Ginn will be Edmundo Sosa, with the red-hot Bryson Stott starting at second base. Even though Sosa is a great utility guy off the bench, his offensive numbers have been far better than Bohm's this year, and he has earned more playing time. So far, he has slashed .294/.321/.412 with one home run and 10 RBI in 19 games played.

With far better numbers, the move to Sosa makes sense for Philadelphia. This will be an important game for him to prove himself, but the bigger story is Bohm getting benched in this one. Despite a vote of confidence recently, Mattingly might be shaking things up with the former All-Star struggling.

Add us as a preferred source on Google