The Phillies have an Alec Bohm problem. What are their options? And how long can they wait?

Alec Bohm stepped to the plate with a runner on third, nobody out, the Phillies trailing 2-0, and the Athletics conceding a run by playing the infield back.

It was the hitting equivalent of a layup.

Even when Bohm is going bad, he usually pockets that RBI with at least a fly ball to the outfield or a grounder. But the veteran third baseman isn’t merely in a six-week funk. This is a full-blown slump, the deepest and darkest of his career.

» READ MORE: Over? History shows it’s not over for the Phillies’ season. Here’s what it took for others to turn it around.

So, instead of hunting a pitch over the plate, Bohm got jammed and popped up a first-pitch fastball to first base. It was an uncompetitive at-bat in the fifth inning Wednesday night. When his turn to bat came up again in the seventh, the Phillies hit for him. He wasn’t in the lineup Thursday, a “reset day,” as interim manager Don Mattingly labeled it.

And in case it wasn’t evident before, it was right there for all to see: The Phillies have an Alec Bohm problem.

First, the numbers:

“I’m sure he’s pressing because he wants to do well,” Mattingly said in explaining why he thought Bohm could use a day off Thursday. “Just trying hard, right?”

No doubt. But there may be other factors.

Bohm, who turns 30 in August, will be a free agent after the season. The longer he goes without getting big hits, the more his market will take one. He has insisted he isn’t preoccupied by that — “In my mind, that’s really far off in the distance,” he said — but he’s also human.

» READ MORE: The Phillies should be better than this. But can Dave Dombrowski really have no regrets with his roster?

Even if free agency isn’t weighing on Bohm, turmoil in his personal life must be. He’s suing his parents in Philadelphia court, alleging a multimillion-dollar mismanagement of his finances, and recently fired his agent, Scott Boras. Bohm filed the lawsuit on the eve of the season and declined to comment on opening day.

Surely, though, there are things on his mind. One team source recently referred to “what he’s dealing with” in an attempt to contextualize Bohm’s on-field struggles. Teammates and coaches feel for him.

But Bohm also is becoming increasingly unplayable. He was the opening day cleanup hitter, Plan A for since-fired manager Rob Thomson as lineup protection for Bryce Harper. Two weeks later, Thomson dropped Bohm to eighth in the order. That was where he batted Wednesday night against the A’s.

The Phillies discussed trading Bohm two winters ago after he was an All-Star in 2024, the second of his two consecutive 97-RBI seasons. They would’ve moved on from him in January if free agent Bo Bichette accepted their $200 million offer. In both instances, their instinct may have been correct.

But Mattingly is expressing confidence in Bohm, citing his recovery from an April funk last year as a reason to believe he can turn things around again.

Indeed, Bohm got off to a 9-for-60 (.150), .331-OPS start last season. But by the Phillies’ 40th game, he showed signs of coming out of it, hiking his average and OPS to .248 and .608. By Memorial Day, he was hitting .273 with a .695 OPS.

A year later, there’s been nothing akin to a hot streak.

“I tell him, ‘You’re so good, bro. You’re one of the best hitters on this earth,’” said left fielder Brandon Marsh, Bohm’s closest friend on the team. “It’s just a matter of showing up and it’ll turn, you know? He’s a special, special player, and we don’t go anywhere without him.

“He knows what he needs to do, and it’s going to come.”

But what if it doesn’t? What are the Phillies’ options?

And how long can they wait to explore them?

Upon arriving at spring training, Aidan Miller’s locker was sandwiched between Harper and J.T. Realmuto, a symbol of his significance within the organization and upcoming rise to the majors.

Three months later, he hasn’t played a game.

Miller is sidelined by a sore back, an issue that arose near the end of last season and recurred in February. The Phillies have been vague with updates about the 21-year-old top prospect and presumed Bohm replacement, who remains at the team’s facility in Clearwater, Fla.

» READ MORE: A frustrated Aidan Miller says his sore back is ‘getting better,’ but his return is uncertain

Thomson said a few weeks ago that Miller was fielding grounders and doing rotational exercises, a precursor to swinging a bat. But Mattingly said this week that Miller wasn’t doing baseball activities.

Asked for clarification, farm director Luke Murton didn’t get into specifics.

“He’s still progressing,” Murton texted Thursday. “Nothing really to note right now.”

Maybe the Phillies are being overly conservative. Maybe there’s reason for concern. There isn’t a timetable for his return, but at this point, it seems unlikely that it will be before the All-Star break.

With Miller unavailable, utility man Otto Kemp represents a possible third-base alternative in triple A. Through Thursday, he was batting .280 with three homers and an .873 OPS since getting sent down last month.

Kemp began the season in the majors as the righty-hitting side of a platoon with Marsh. He played mostly left field after his demotion but lately is splitting his time at third base.

Another option: Carter Kieboom. Formerly a third base prospect with the Nationals, he’s a .200 hitter with 12 homers and a .597 OPS in 516 major league plate appearances. But the 28-year-old was batting .318 with two homers and an .834 OPS in triple A through Thursday, and the Phillies do have a vacancy on the 40-man roster.

Infield prospect Aroon Escobar was 12-for-26 with one homer in his last five games in double A. But the Phillies don’t seem inclined to push down on the gas pedal and rush the 21-year-old through the system.

The easiest short-term solution might simply be to give utility infielder Edmundo Sosa additional playing time at third base.

It isn’t ideal. Sosa is most valuable as a super sub, a spot starter who plays well when he fills in at various positions but tends to get exposed at the plate when he plays too much.

Surely, though, he could handle a three- or four-game run at third base if Mattingly wanted to give Bohm an extended breather.

Could that be a possibility?

“If I thought it was going to help him, we would,” Mattingly said. “Anything’s a possibility, right?”

Lost amid Dave Dombrowski’s explanation for canning Thomson 28 games into the season, and his stunning admission that he offered the job to deposed Red Sox manager Alex Cora, was this newsy nugget:

“I’ve had trade conversations earlier than I ever have this year,” Dombrowski said. “Other clubs haven’t been doing very well, either, so clubs have called around.”

Trades don’t typically get made in May. But given the Phillies’ lack of production at third base (.514 OPS, 28th in the majors through Thursday) and in the cleanup spot (.612 OPS, 26th), Dombrowski might not be able to wait until the Aug. 3 trade deadline.

» READ MORE: Dave Dombrowski is ‘responsible’ for this reeling Phillies roster. And these decisions helped get them here.

Before this week, multiple major league sources named the Astros as a logical trade partner for the Phillies. They dangled infielder Isaac Paredes in the offseason and were likely to revive the idea once shortstop Jeremy Peña returns in a few weeks from a strained hamstring.

But Carlos Correa tore a tendon in his left ankle in the batting cage Tuesday. He will have surgery and miss the rest of the season, and, suddenly, Houston has everyday at-bats for Paredes at third base.

“Thank God,” general manager Dana Brown told reporters, “we have the depth still in the infield.”

The Astros still could be sellers. They’re off to a 15-23 start and have injuries galore, including to Correa, Peña, ace righty Hunter Brown (shoulder), closer Josh Hader (biceps), catcher Yainer Diaz (side), and center fielder Jake Meyers (side).

But if they do move Paredes, it’s unlikely to be until closer to the deadline and only once they’re sure they’re out of contention in an American League that had only four teams with a better-than-.500 record entering the weekend.

The noncontending Giants have a crowded infield, with versatile Casey Schmitt blocked at third base (Matt Chapman), second (Luis Arraez), and shortstop (Willy Adames). They might have to move Schmitt or someone else to create room for him.

But offense is down at third base across the majors. The league average OPS was .691 entering the weekend, lower than any position except center field (.683) and catcher (.678).

» READ MORE: The Phillies have elite speed at the top and bottom of the order. And it could be key for an inconsistent offense.

The Phillies may have little choice, then, other than to hope Bohm can pull out of the worst slide of his career, at least until Miller gets healthy or a trade becomes available.

“He’s going to hit, and I’ll believe that until the day I’m not on this earth that he’s going to hit,” Mattingly said. “And we’re going to need him to be himself. He’s going to get a lot of big hits for us. You guys are going to forget what happened in May when he’s hitting down the stretch and driving in runs.”

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Despite playing only two seasons for the Phillies, Aaron Rowand left his mark. Literally. Twenty years ago Monday, Rowand smashed into the center-field fence and broke bones in his face to make a catch. And if that didn’t instantly boost his popularity with the fan base, his answer four days later to a question about why he would sacrifice his body certainly did. Rowand joins Phillies Extra to reminisce about “The Catch,” his role in helping to change the culture around the Phillies, and a lot more. Watch here.

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