Can Philadelphia Phillies' Alec Bohm Bat .300 This Season?

With just over three weeks left in the regular season, Philadelphia Phillies' third baseman Alec Bohm has a chance to accomplish a rare feat.

Author:
Leo Morgenstern
Sep 15, 2022 3:00 PM EDT

In this story:

Philadelphia Phillies

Batting .300 is a rare accomplishment these days.

Presently, only five qualified NL hitters are batting .300 or better. One of them, José Iglesias, is injured and likely won't finish the season with enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title. The others are all bonafide stars: Freddie Freeman, Paul Goldschmidt, Trea Turner, and even Jeff McNeil.

Batting .300 is an even less common feat for a Philadelphia Phillies' hitter. In the last fifteen years, only two Phillies players have hit .300 in a full season: Bryce Harper in 2021 and Ben Revere in 2014.

In 2022, Alec Bohm is batting .291. He ranks ninth among qualified NL hitters and first on the Phillies. Could he join the rarefied .300 club by the end of the season?

Alec Bohm celebrates with teammate J.T. Realmuto.
© Kyle Ross-USA TODAY Sports

If Bohm plays in all 20 of his team's remaining games, he should receive about 80 more at-bats. Based on those estimations, the third baseman would need 28 hits over the final three weeks to finish with a .300 BA.

In order to do so, he must bat .350 for the rest of the season.

Hitting .350 won't be a walk in the park. It wouldn't be easy for anyone, even the Freemans and Goldschmidts of the world. Therefore, batting .300 isn't a likely outcome for Bohm.

Nevertheless, it remains well within the realm of possibility. The below graph shows Bohm's batting average over every 20-game span in his career. Each point over the red dotted line represents a period with a batting average of at least .350.

The green circled section represents 19 different 20-game spans this season in which Bohm batted at least .350.

Stats through Sept. 13, 2022.
via FanGraphs

If Bohm can perform like he did during the green-circled stretch for the rest of the year, he'll easily cruise to a .300 season.

Over his last 20 games, Bohm is batting .329 in 82 at-bats. And as evidenced by the chart, his average has been steadily rising over the past several games (until Tuesday night's 0-for-3 performance). If he continues to pick up the pace, a .300 BA is within reach.

If Bohm does manage to reach that distinguished number, it would mark the culmination of an impressive turnaround season.

After a dismal year in 2021 that saw him demoted to Triple-A, Bohm began 2022 without guaranteed playing time and with the threat of another demotion looming overhead. Now, he has the chance to end the season in an exclusive group populated by MVP candidates and All-Stars.

Even if he does not quite reach the .300 mark, this season will have been a success for Alec Bohm. But batting .300 would be the icing on the cake of a strong bounce-back season—and who doesn't like a little extra icing on top?