Alec Bohm has progressed from hater to hitter, turning early-season boos to cheers

The ballpark was rocking, everyone was standing, and fireworks were shooting into the Tuesday night sky while Alec Bohm circled the bases and thought back to that night in April.

How could he not think about how far he’s come? It’s been quite the ride to get here. And nearly seven months later the crowd was roaring after his home run in the World Series.

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How could he not think about how far he’s come? It’s been quite the ride.

“I could’ve just as easily not been here right now, you know,” Bohm said in the clubhouse after the Phillies whacked the Astros, 7-0 in Game Three to move within two wins of a World Championship. “It all worked out the way it needed to.”

Rob Thomson has repeatedly said this postseason that Bohm has improved more in one year than any other player he’s ever coached.

Bohm was dropped to triple A last August -- a year after finishing second in Rookie of the Year voting --just as the Phillies were entering the final stretch of a postseason chase. He looked headed back to the minors in April after making three errors in his second start of the season. Bohm started just three of the team’s first 10 games as the Phillies failed to trust him to make the plays at third base. He hated this place.

“Sometimes in this game you have to fail to figure out how to get out of that,” Rhys Hoskins said. “This is a guy who never failed. He was always the best all the way up through the minor leagues and his first year in the big leagues, he’s second in Rookie of the Year. Sometimes you have to fail to know how to pick yourself back up. He’s figured out how to do that.”

Bohm worked early every afternoon with Bobby Dickerson, the team’s infield coach who helped Manny Machado when he was breaking in with Baltimore. Bohm allowed himself to fail in practice, challenging himself to be able to make the plays when they mattered.

Dickerson peppered Bohm with ground balls all summer and hit him with tough love.

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“He would always tell me, ‘For all the money in the world, you can’t just catch this one ball. Catch the ball,’” Bohm said. “So we started to catch the ball.”

Bohm developed this season from a defensive liability to a steady hand. He might not win a Gold Glove Award but he holds his own. That three-error game is well in the past.

“It’s mentally and emotionally,” Thomson said. “If he makes a mistake now he moves on. Where before it might take two or three days to come out of it. He’s really grown for me as a player and a person and I can’t be more proud of him.”

Bohm made a strong play Tuesday in the third inning, fielding a grounder and throwing across the infield for the third out.

“It’s rewarding, man,” Nick Castellanos said. “Philly can be a tough place to play. Definitely a tough place to grow. This is all he knows. To be able to struggle like that in the beginning and I wasn’t here last year but apparently he wasn’t a fan favorite last year, to put the work in and stay committed to it and just become a core part of this team. We’re not in the postseason if we don’t have Alec Bohm on offense and on defense. He’s done spectacular in both. He deserves it. In baseball, I really don’t think there are any accidents and I think what you’re seeing is just a byproduct of how committed he is to the process everyday.”

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The Phillies have relied this season on production from young players like Bryson Stott, Matt Vierling, Nick Maton, and Brandon Marsh. Perhaps there is something those young players can glean by seeing Bohm -- who is the third-youngest hitter on the roster -- fight to steady his career after the walls were closing in.

“It’s Bohm,” Stott said. “I don’t think you can say how he is. He’s just Bohm. To see him keep going. I would say that wasn’t a good week of baseball and I think he’d say the same but he works really hard and really enjoys being around us and playing here. To see him keep going has been awesome.”

Bohm owned his comments in April -- “still a famous quote,” Hoskins said -- immediately after the game. It was a moment of frustration, a bad day at the office. All was forgiven as Bohm was greeted with a standing ovation the next night. His development was far from finished but the pressure seemed to loosen after that. He hit the bottom and survived.

Seven months later, he stepped to the plate for his first World Series at-bat at the ballpark he once said he hated. Fireworks would soon erupt and fans would roar. Bohm loves it here and the fans love him. It’s been quite a season.

“This guy has been in some low places here,” Hoskins said. “Heard the boos, heard the cries, heard everything. But through it all, he knew he had a lot of work to do and he still does. I’m sure he would say the same thing. That’s just the type of competitor he is, the type of work ethic he has, and obviously the effort from Alec is the most important thing but his trust in Bobby Dickerson and our staff is really what has made Alec make strides as quickly as he has. You catch balls the way you do in practice and all of a sudden you get a little more confidence. A confident guy in the infield is where everyone needs to be.”