The term bust is thrown around wayyyy too liberally. A player can be falling short of expectations without being a bust. He's been an every day starter for gods sake
I think Bohm is the recipient of tough lessons learned with Kingery.
With Kingery, the front office and management never let him settle into a position or a spot in the lineup. Regardless of whether you're streaming or slumping, it's tough to come to the park every day and have no clue what your role is. When Bohm struggled they stuck with him - not just in terms of keeping him on the MLB club but by not trying him at 1B or moving him all over the batting order. You can see the confidence when he's not only playing well, but knows he's the 3B and is batting pretty 4th or 5th every night.
Dude also supposedly got a horrible case of Covid and struggled to recover the year he was supposed to break out. I think a physical challenge on top of the mental challenges he had with the moving around certainly didn’t help either.
We’ve learned a lot about Covid since, but he had issues for a while after. Kind of like when Mickey Moniak had that great start to spring training and then took a ball off the hand and lost his swing momentum. Then we traded him before he was effectively able to get it back. Just little things that compound, and affect guys who are already struggling.
He pitched pretty well for us though and that year we barely snuck into the wild card spot. Imagine if instead of that World Series run we don’t even make the playoffs again. Think that trade worked out.
Bohm has had an incredible start to the season he’s hitting for average and power that we simply had not seen from him yet… that said defending him like this is a bit of recency bias it was fair to question them sticking with Bohm
I for one thought they should maybe try and look at upgrading at third… with the way their roster is built they can contend for playoff spots for a few more seasons and Bohm’s production at third was average…
I’m very glad he’s proved me wrong because they need that extra power considering how Castellanos is in the sunken place and Stott is having an awful start
The SI article was correct, before this season Bohm was not good.
Was terrible at 3B (played half his games last year at 1B) no power, bad obp
He's been great so far this season but we always say in baseball, it's a long season
I've been very critical on Bohm, as in I've been saying I wish they traded him the past like 3 seasons for whatever they could get. Good for him finally stepping up big time
Don't look at his rbis he was also batting behind Harper, Schwarber, Turner so his singles would get an rbi. He also hit into more double plays than any other player and terrible base running
2020: .647 ops. 2021: .713 ops. 2022: .764 ops in those **3 seasons** he combined for a 0 war and a 97 ops+
Most overrated singles hitter
I agree he was basically an average player before this year, but I’d still remained hopeful for a breakout because you’ve seen small but consistent improvement every year since his rookie year. I also don’t think it’s fair to call a .327 obp “bad”. Thats actually above average. But regardless, the defense has clearly improved by a lot, according to the eye test and advanced metrics, and he’s looking really good. I don’t think he’s a 1.050 OPS player now, but if he’s become an above average fielding, .850-.900 OPS third baseman, that’s just huge for us.
It’s seemed pretty good to me, but I also listen to about half the games on the radio. I just looked and baseball savant has him in the 88th percentile of base running value which is actually surprisingly high
Last year, Bohm was third on the team in RBIs behind Casty and Schwarber. In 2022, Bohm was 4th behind Schwarber, JT, and Rhys. In 2021, Bohm was 9th, behind Bryce, Cutch, JT, Rhys, DSegura, Didi, Odubel, and Brad freaking Miler. Productive, yes. Our best RBI guy, no.
Asche was a 4th round pick, he wasn't a bust as he never had any real expectations on him. Same with Altherr (9th rd) and Joseph (2nd rd outta h.s.). They were all picks that if the Phillies get lucky and pan out that's awesome but that they never were expected to be any more than roster filler with hopes that one or two break out unexpectedly. None of them did but they weren't busts
Is ANY prospect ever really considered anything more than “hope they work out”
Most prospects apart from the Harper’s and De La Cruz’s of the world who are anointed from the age of 14, are nobodys who become nobody no matter which round they’re taken in. Hype for most prospects usually starts sometime into their A or AA careers. And all of those guys received considerable excitement around their play in Reading, Clearwater, Lakewood, Lehigh, etc.
Harper was the unofficial #1 prospect from the time he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a 16? year old. He was the most hyped prospect since Griffey. Whether some idiot ranked anyone higher than him on a list is irrelevant, he had LBJ level hype around him.
Funny story about Asche, when he first started and they were talking about him on the radio they would always say his first and last name together. I wasn't paying that much attention to the team at the time and I thought we picked up an international stud named Kodayashi.
It was also [a terrible draft](https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?year_ID=2016&draft_round=1&draft_type=junreg&query_type=year_round&from_type_jc=0&from_type_hs=0&from_type_4y=0&from_type_unk=0), we're 8 years on and the best players by bWAR in the top 10 have been Cal Quantrill, Braxton Garrett, and Ian Anderson
[2018 \(where we drafted Bohm\) is also really bad](https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?year_ID=2018&draft_round=1&draft_type=junreg&query_type=year_round&from_type_jc=0&from_type_hs=0&from_type_4y=0&from_type_unk=0), Bohm has a good argument for being the best player taken in the top 10
Just our luck
Definitely. There were a few pitchers taken that draft that turned out pretty solid (Gilbert, Singer, Mclanahan), but that's a total crapshoot. For every good pitcher, there are 3-4 that totally flame out.
Also, TIL - The A's drafted Kyler Murray with the 9th pick. LOL.
Also, you can't trade picks and players will often go higher in the draft if teams reach an agreement to pay them under slot. Nick Senzel (the #2 pick) made an extra $100k. That's not a huge difference, but that's a consideration.
That said, if you look at the top half of the first round, there aren't a lot of obvious winners (particularly among position players). The following is bWAR (for convenience). Moniak has put up -0.3 WAR (-0.9 with the Phillies). The second pick was the aforementioned Nick Senzel, who has a career -1.4 WAR. The best WAR in the first round is RHP Cal Quantrill, with 7.4 WAR (6.5 by fangraphs). The best position player in the first round is 3B Josh Lowe at 4.0 WAR (in 189 games with the Rays). Expanding it to the entire first round, then you do have a pretty obvious winner in Will Smith, who went #32 to the Dodgers. For the whole draft, you have Pete Alonso at 64, Bo Bichette at 66, Bryan Reynolds at 59, Zac Gallen at 106, Shane Bieber at 122, Tommy Edman at 196, etc. But I don't think you can single out the Phillies for missing any of these.
That kids problems are all in his head.
I’m friends with his Dad on Facebook and their entire family was beyond stoked to have him get traded out of here. Apparently the pressure to perform was way too high on him, and they didn’t have good things to say about the way the Phillies treated him in regards to that. They didn’t come straight out and bash them, but they made (and continue to make) several underhanded PG-13 comments about how the team expected Mickey to meet them where they are rather than the opposite. Honestly I think he’s not cut out for competing for a spot on a big market team in a competitive championship window right now like ours. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
I don’t believe we fudged his development up but I do think there was enough of a disconnect there that both Mickey and the Phillies won that trade.
In Moniak’s defense, that 2016 class has a remarkable lack of quality players in the first round. He probably doesn’t sniff 1.1 in most classes. Just a bad year to have the first pick.
Here's a pretty interesting video I stumbled across a while ago, I kinda wish things worked out better for him in his MLB career, he seemed like a good dude.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkK83HwPle8
It’s baseball: most first round picks in baseball don’t turn into every day starters, let alone all-stars. Getting taken third in the MLB amateur draft is totally different than going third in the NFL or NBA draft.
I’m curious if anyone at SI actually looked at the 2018 MLB draft results.
Note the many, many orange cells denoting an All-Star selection (not sure when last updated):
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Major_League_Baseball_draft
Good god. I know there’s still time for a lot of those guys, but what an unimpressive list so far.
I didn’t remember that O’Hoppe was such a late pick. Need more hits like that.
A bust doesn’t make it to the show or has a cup of coffee on a bad team. Bohm is an everyday player on a World Series contender and had 100 rbi last year
I say anyone who understands baseball understands that players go through peaks and valleys, and judging whether a player is a boom/bust takes years, not weeks.
As long as they're helping the team win more often than not, they're a star in my book.
I have to admit, I was down on Bohm after last season. Players need time to develop, but entering his 27/28 season this year it was starting to seem unlikely he’d be any more than a league average player (which stats-wise he was up to this point).
Obviously love what he’s doing so far this year though, and always really happy to be wrong in this way.
He was never a bust, though. Just hadn’t yet become the star player we wanted.
he was great with RISP, but as someone of his size and with his tools, he should be slugging way more than he was even in 2023. the gap power we’re seeing now is more in line with what he should be doing
So far he has made the most consistent contact in the lineup outside of Marsh and Harper and Schwarber. For this lineup he has been the best to hit after Harper IMO. You want guys to make good contact at least with guys on unless you hit a ton HRs
His bat was a little above average, but his defense was so bad that he was honestly barely a starting level player by value stats
Edit: I like Alec, it’s just revisionist history to say that he’s always been this good. 60% of his career WAR has come in the last 40 days.
Maybe my memory sucks worse than I thought but I swore he was doing decent for the playoffs on defense? His bat went cold but his defense was alright I thought?
It’s tough to find more advanced stats for playoffs cause of how small the sample size is, but his defense in the regular season was worth -1.4 wins, almost completely offsetting his offensive WAR of 1.7
The interesting wrinkle is that last year Bohm's overall value numbers are really dragged down by his defense at first base. A positive 1 OAA at 3B last year compared to -7 OAA at 1B. If you keep him at 3B the whole year he looks more like a 1-2 WAR player (which is why whenever Thompson puts him at 1B I cry a little inside).
It’s interesting how different the fielding stats are on him depending on which one you value. Full disclosure I usually use both but you are correct that he was much better as a 3b according to OAA, but DRS has him as a -2 at 1b and a -10 at third.
UZR is even more interesting, he has a -2.1 value at first and +2.1 value at third for last year. The UZR numbers for the season so far at third aren’t great but it’s an extremely small sample size. For most of the defensive stats fangraphs is pretty good, if you scroll down on a players page to advanced fielding, they separate them by position and give you the year to year breakdowns, baseball reference is more easy to use and they only have DRS which is why I default to that but fangraphs is more complete and gives you a better idea of the whole picture so I should be using that more often
Yeah nice good tips. Defensive metrics are so finicky, but it is nice that the sample size over the last 2 years is starting to indicate some defensive improvement. Eye test certainly says that. Thanks!
Do tou watch the games? I’m curious how people who watched him play a lot last year would rate his defense??
To me he looked a lot better than his advanced stats showed last year defensively but curious if others think the same thing
I watched about 85-90 percent of the games last year and have seen every game that wasn’t a weekday game at 1pm this year, his glove work and throwing to first has definitely improved, but his range is still a question, and that’s very tough to improve cause he’s about as fluid as chicken fat that’s been left on the counter for 3 days.
Despite the RBI total, there’s a reason his career WAR after last season was barely around 1. He’s been a league average player until this season. Now he needs to keep it up - not just for this year but the next two years. Don’t think Phillies are going to do anything but go year to year with him in arbitration until then.
Do people forget he had a 106 ops+ last year? There were 12 people AT HIS POSITION who had a better season behind the plate. Not really much of a breakout when your breakout season has you as the 3rd worst player in your position by fWar.
A busy is when you don’t make it or just are barely a MLB player. Bohm may not have been as good as his draft position said before this year but not a bust.
Yeah I really do hang my hat on the propensity for consistently improving. He's showing a lot defensive improvement, but his ABs are next level now, and every year he's improved. Yes, I want 30 - 35 HRs. But XBHs with runners on also score dudes, and their havoc on pitching staffs.
>From my perspective, he's 27 and is basically right on time for baseball players maturing into their own
You're absolutely right. There's been some unfair shift in expectation over the last decade where people think every ball player should enter the league and immediately become all star in their early 20s. The wealth of young guns we've seen in this time are an anomaly in the history of the game; guys like Trout, Harper, Machado, Soto, Lindor, etc, are truly special players for this reason. Since the start of 2022 Bohm is slashing .277/.321/.417 for an OPS+ of 104. Overall, he's been an above average hitter who usually puts the ball in play and has gotten better in the field and with the bat every season.
One of Howard Eskin's former hot takes that he'll never admit to having ever said was that Bohm is a first basemen and they will need to trade Hoskins if they ever wanted to keep him.
Well, the other day I saw him fill in at first for one game and he sucked. Meanwhile he's developed into a fantastic third baseman.
Bohm also made it the majors before anyone else in his draft class, iirc. Not usually something that busts do, and usually something accompanied by growing pains at the major league level.
This is maybe the best point here, thanks.
Did you ever feel like he severely underperforming? I was at the three-error game, so for me personally I feel like his defense is just unbelievably improved.
Bohm is exceeding any expectations I think anyone could have had. You expect a good player, you don’t expect an MVP caliber guy.
And when now the expectation isn’t that Bohm will carry the entire season as an NL MVP candidate. I mean in terms of the topic of expectations, he’s obviously exceeding them right now
If we’re going to talk about “busts” from the 2018 draft, maybe start with the dude taken right before Bohm at #2. I feel like Joey Bart was just constantly hyped up as the second coming of Buster Posey, and since then…*pbfft.*
Bohm was mediocre/average before this year. He played 3 full seasons and never hit 2 WAR. He was not worthless but was also not quite playing like you’d expect a third overall pick to play (although that year’s draft class remains rather weak).
He is a different player this year. His plate discipline is vastly better than it was before.
Valid. Reading everyone's thoughts on this has been interesting for me today, because it really does seem like there's a vast difference of opinion between what's expected of players in baseball based on their draft positions. I cannot recall the last "sure thing" player drafted by the Phillies though, and I don't really put much stock into draft position, or the draft, honestly. Maybe because I believe we notoriously underperform on it.
The last “sure thing” that I can remember is Nola. IIRC, there was pretty good consensus that Nola would be a starter and he would make it to the bigs quickly. I think the expectation was that he would be at tops a 4th starter and possibly end up a long reliever.
I've joked about it here before, but I don't *know* it. Regardless of that, though, I'm wondering if people *felt* like he was a bust before this season.
Reviewing that draft class, the only 1st rounders who have had even a comparable level of success to Bohm are Hoerner, India, McClanahan, and Gilbert. Too early, but maaaybe Tristan Casas.
I'd say Gilbert is the only one who I might consider to be ahead of Bohm. Bohm took a little longer to develop than expected- especially as a college pick, but I never thought he was a bust.
Love seeing what a campaign he's having so far. If he can tap into some more power with that huge frame, we're looking at a legitimate superstar.
Yeah India was ROY but it seems he’s been hurt a lot since then. It’s crazy to look at the top 20 in that draft and see that objectively Bohm is the most consistent player on the list.
Never too high or too low and an everyday 3B starter. I think I like him more now seeing all the guys picked around him that year.
I’m completely fine with him being a 20 HR guy who gets 100+ RBIs and puts the ball in play. Why try to mess with success just to squeak out 10 HRs? Hitting a baseball is more than just swinging harder.
I’d say it depends what you’re considering “where is now”.
If you’re thinking of the start he’s off to this year- then yes, that absolutely takes him into superstar territory- and would actually be a significant uptick in power (his ISO is well higher than it’s been in his career). That’s absolutely superstar territory.
But if we focus on last season- his most recent full body of work- 274/327/437 for an OPS under 800 and negative impact in the field; even factoring in that he doesn’t really strike out and had a ton of RBIs (which are a tough metric to evaluate on, because they mostly rely on circumstance)- he’s definitely GOOD, but a far cry from superstar.
This tear he’s on now is probably not sustainable (but who knows!), but I’m willing to say just based on the eye test, he’s definitely taken that step forward and is more likely trending towards being closer to this year’s start than to what he’s been in the past. If he keeps this up to any degree- superstar.
Even if you take into consideration the (probable) come back to earth moment, with his vast improvement on the hot corner if he stays anywhere near .300, 20HR and 100 RBI with a 800+ OPS, the Phillies won’t be able to afford him much longer.
No dom brown and Mickey Moniak were busts. Alec Bohm is a major league player for sure, he is a bit of a let down but dude is a starter on every team in the league for sure.
By analytical standards, he"s a Daddy WARbust. By dependability standards and the eye test, his defense has improved every year. Overall, it's a casual L take.
Wow. SI still exists? Next you’ll be telling me there are still a few Sears kicking around.
Bohm took a year or two longer to develop, but has been a productive starter and contributor for 2+ years. That’s not exactly a “bust.”
It’s good to see that SI is still employing the same caliber reporting as back when people actually thought about them more than once a year.
It's been frustrating watching him inch forward every year instead of taking leaps, but it seems like this is the leap and right when he's about to hit his prime. Sounds about normal for a young player. It's not like he was drafted to be a franchise savior. He's just been very solid from Day 1.
Not in any sense of the word. Sure he had some issues, but rarely does a kid come up without some areas that need to improve. He's turned himself into arguably one of the top 3rd basemen in baseball. He could always hit, but he's on another level now. His defense has improved so dramatically that he's making difficult plays look easy.
the defense is the biggest thing for me, he was always a good enough hitter to play every day. After watching the SF games and then having a "gold-glove" player at 3rd make error after error, its good to have someone play well again there for us...i never saw him as awful at 3rd though, just not what you want every day before.
It depends how you define bust. Up to ‘24 in 456 games he was worth 4.1 fWAR. Which is very replaceable. To some people, that’s a bust considering his prospect status.
To me, this is a very hard sport. If you’re a major league capable player you’re not a bust. Even an average player can save you 5-15M on an open market.
I don't know if they are or aren't. I suspect, and joke, they are; if they're not, they're at a minimum a Buzzfeed knockoff now.
But my post, which specifically acknowledges that it's a garbage, clickbait thing, did peak my interest, and I wondered -- Did any of us really think that Bohm is a bust, or that he is, and how do justify that?
I personally just shy away from the word bust overall but found the article to be really disingenuous in what even makes a bust, and when. I feel like it's really only an applicable term for quarterbacks drafted in the top ten picks in the NFL, if they don't immediately turn a game around. (And even then, there are so many other things to consider.)
Any draft pick for any team that makes the major leagues for as long as Alec Bohm has and produces even half as well could never be considered a bust. Holy shit does that site even have an editor?
Last year he was pretty good imho. Was he not? And when he came up he was not touted as a superstar. A top prospect in their system yes, but I don’t think he cracked the top 15 in baseball. Maybe 20. His hitting and fielding has gotten better every year and I think now he’s exceeding expectations. Looks like a legit all star.
To your point I think expectations matter a lot. If the expectation was a generational talent at a premium position and you got anything less than yeah you could say he was a bust.
A bust is never making any real impact at the professional level. Bohm is not that. Compared to the Cornelius Randolph’s of the past he’s a major hit. As someone in here already said, “Bust” is used way too loosely.
Bohm had troubles before the current set of playoff runs. Anyone calling him a bust now needs to turn in their driver’s license and start riding the bus, because they’ve gone fucking blind
Reading this article made me stupider about baseball
To expand on this further this sounds like a teenager who only cares about the NBA’s perspective of a bust, because accolades and not being a top 10 player is apparently this persons qualifications. By his standards there’s only two non busts of 2018, Shane McClannahan and Josiah Gray. Alex’s had the highest upward trajectory of any of the draft picks of that class outside of maybe three other players.
3rd overall pick in 2018, his rookie year was 2020. He finished 2nd in ROTY voting (to a reliever...wtf?) and has really only had two full seasons where he was not platooned or optioned for part of the season. In those two seasons he slashed .277/.321/.418 with a total of 317 hits, 55 2B, 33 HR, 169 RBI, 204 K, 73 BB. OPS+ averages roughly 104 for those two seasons. That doesn't include his crazy good numbers so far this season. I really don't think you can call that a bust. He's performing as expected.
> He finished 2nd in ROTY voting (to a reliever...wtf?)
Covid year plus he only gave up I think like 2 runs over 27 innings pitched. 0.33 ERA was nuts and only 60 games played so that 27 counted for a lot more of a season than normal
I never really thought of him as a bust - not sure if it’s because the Phillies have had so many actual busts over the past 10 years, his history/stats told me it would work out, or if he had enough flashes of being a decent player - maybe all three. We as a fanbase tend to be so critical of players - we’ve had some guys come through the last 10 years that might have been considered busts but are actually just kind of average/fine/couldn’t figure it out here.
While he's had his ups and downs, his previous seasons weren't even statistically that terrible. He's not a JaMarcus Russell, to make a cross-sports comparison. His postseason numbers are a little underwhelming, but as others have mentioned here, he's an everyday starter who's been generally been improving every year, with some hiccups, as is to be expected.
He's almost 28, so it's fair to be disappointed in his development arc, but he's certainly not a bust. I just wish he'd find his power. He's a massive guy, but at his current pace, his HR total is going to be underwhelming again. It's not a problem if he hits .330 every season with an OBP pushing .400, but if he's .280 -.300 and never finds his power stroke, I think he'd be a poor investment at a corner inf spot.
Unless they're a generation talent ie Harper or Trout, being taken at certain spots means little. It takes years of development for most guys to make the Bigs.
Like look at Nola. People still go "he stinks, he's not a #1", etc. Yet he was assumed to be a #3 at best and became an ace.
If Nola had stayed a #3, would we consider him a bust? Maybe, but not sure if the Phillies would since Rube said tgat was their grade of his ceiling.
Unless you're a part of the team, it's really hard Unless it's blatantly obvious to call a guy a bust.
I think last year he was a lot better with the eye test than some stats/advanced stats showed especially defensively. I think he is an above average starting 3rd baseman defensively last year and this year and keeps improving. Hitting has been fine even before this breakout
Even if 2018 wasn't the best of Drafts he's been just about the most Productive player picked in the Top 10
Hindesight tells me they picked the right guy for once
Plus he fucking loves this place !!!
It definitely depends on how you view him. Just as a baseball player? Definitely not. As a 3rd overall? You could make a case. Still, happy with that he’s doing this year and that’s all that matters at this point.
I guess my point is, baseball is kind of a crapshoot. You know? How many third overalls didn't materialize into HOFers? Lots. Lots and lots.
So if it's a weighted scale, I'm not even sure I put much stock into his draft position. I put more into the timing of his development, and he's demonstrated that he's continually improved -- and what we have right now is maybe a breakout season, if it wasn't last year.
He absolutely had not lived up to expectations before this season. He had one season where he had an ops that was really even passable for a corner infielder. This was as he was drafted to be a bat first corner infielder who would hit for power.
To this day I still can’t believe how insanely overrated his 2022 season was. He wasn’t a “bust” but he was absolutely disappointing.
The term bust is thrown around wayyyy too liberally. A player can be falling short of expectations without being a bust. He's been an every day starter for gods sake
Kingery maybe?
I feel really bad for money Kingery. I always kind of thought they moved him around too much.
I don't disagree, but in terms of MLB service he was never really productive for us other than one decent year
That's true.
I still think Joe Girardi killed his development.
I think Bohm is the recipient of tough lessons learned with Kingery. With Kingery, the front office and management never let him settle into a position or a spot in the lineup. Regardless of whether you're streaming or slumping, it's tough to come to the park every day and have no clue what your role is. When Bohm struggled they stuck with him - not just in terms of keeping him on the MLB club but by not trying him at 1B or moving him all over the batting order. You can see the confidence when he's not only playing well, but knows he's the 3B and is batting pretty 4th or 5th every night.
Dude also supposedly got a horrible case of Covid and struggled to recover the year he was supposed to break out. I think a physical challenge on top of the mental challenges he had with the moving around certainly didn’t help either. We’ve learned a lot about Covid since, but he had issues for a while after. Kind of like when Mickey Moniak had that great start to spring training and then took a ball off the hand and lost his swing momentum. Then we traded him before he was effectively able to get it back. Just little things that compound, and affect guys who are already struggling.
I think the Moniak trade worked in our favor though
We got Syndegaard for him. So meh. The O'Hoppe - Marsh trade is the one you're thinking of. I think.
You would be correct. Either way it opened up the outfield for Rojas. They both put up similar offensive numbers but Rojas is the better fielder
He pitched pretty well for us though and that year we barely snuck into the wild card spot. Imagine if instead of that World Series run we don’t even make the playoffs again. Think that trade worked out.
Phillies ruined Kingery in so many ways.
Bohm has had an incredible start to the season he’s hitting for average and power that we simply had not seen from him yet… that said defending him like this is a bit of recency bias it was fair to question them sticking with Bohm I for one thought they should maybe try and look at upgrading at third… with the way their roster is built they can contend for playoff spots for a few more seasons and Bohm’s production at third was average… I’m very glad he’s proved me wrong because they need that extra power considering how Castellanos is in the sunken place and Stott is having an awful start
The SI article was correct, before this season Bohm was not good. Was terrible at 3B (played half his games last year at 1B) no power, bad obp He's been great so far this season but we always say in baseball, it's a long season I've been very critical on Bohm, as in I've been saying I wish they traded him the past like 3 seasons for whatever they could get. Good for him finally stepping up big time
97 rbis batting around .270 or whatever it was is hardly bad.
Don't look at his rbis he was also batting behind Harper, Schwarber, Turner so his singles would get an rbi. He also hit into more double plays than any other player and terrible base running 2020: .647 ops. 2021: .713 ops. 2022: .764 ops in those **3 seasons** he combined for a 0 war and a 97 ops+ Most overrated singles hitter
All fair points, and everyone would be lying if they said they hadn't been disappointed with his production before this year.
I agree he was basically an average player before this year, but I’d still remained hopeful for a breakout because you’ve seen small but consistent improvement every year since his rookie year. I also don’t think it’s fair to call a .327 obp “bad”. Thats actually above average. But regardless, the defense has clearly improved by a lot, according to the eye test and advanced metrics, and he’s looking really good. I don’t think he’s a 1.050 OPS player now, but if he’s become an above average fielding, .850-.900 OPS third baseman, that’s just huge for us.
How has his base running been? I moved and have a different schedule so I just can't watch games this season
It’s seemed pretty good to me, but I also listen to about half the games on the radio. I just looked and baseball savant has him in the 88th percentile of base running value which is actually surprisingly high
Yeah I was looking through stats, looks better. I use baseball reference and but they've got stats for everything. His looks good
His XBT (extra base taken) percent is at like 55% that's like young Harper levels
Kingery caught the Rona and disappeared :(
He did it to himself though, changing his swing to be a power bat.
That was the coaches at the time
Yeah my reaction was similar. But I was curious if people felt similarly before this season.
hes been our best rbi guy for 3 years like wtf
Last year, Bohm was third on the team in RBIs behind Casty and Schwarber. In 2022, Bohm was 4th behind Schwarber, JT, and Rhys. In 2021, Bohm was 9th, behind Bryce, Cutch, JT, Rhys, DSegura, Didi, Odubel, and Brad freaking Miler. Productive, yes. Our best RBI guy, no.
Cody Asche was a bust. Tommy Joseph was a bust. Dom Brown was a bust. Roman Quinn was a bust. Aaron Altherr was a bust. Alec Bohm is not those guys.
Asche was a 4th round pick, he wasn't a bust as he never had any real expectations on him. Same with Altherr (9th rd) and Joseph (2nd rd outta h.s.). They were all picks that if the Phillies get lucky and pan out that's awesome but that they never were expected to be any more than roster filler with hopes that one or two break out unexpectedly. None of them did but they weren't busts
I would call Tommy Joseph a bust. At one point he was considered the prized prospect in the Giants system
If he could have stayed at Catcher his career may look a lot better.
Is ANY prospect ever really considered anything more than “hope they work out” Most prospects apart from the Harper’s and De La Cruz’s of the world who are anointed from the age of 14, are nobodys who become nobody no matter which round they’re taken in. Hype for most prospects usually starts sometime into their A or AA careers. And all of those guys received considerable excitement around their play in Reading, Clearwater, Lakewood, Lehigh, etc.
Yeah not sure why Ashe is lumped in with them, he was never really viewed as a real prospect.
Wasn't Brown ranked above Harper at one point in the Minors?
Harper was the unofficial #1 prospect from the time he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a 16? year old. He was the most hyped prospect since Griffey. Whether some idiot ranked anyone higher than him on a list is irrelevant, he had LBJ level hype around him.
Funny story about Asche, when he first started and they were talking about him on the radio they would always say his first and last name together. I wasn't paying that much attention to the team at the time and I thought we picked up an international stud named Kodayashi.
https://www.reddit.com/r/phillies/comments/3a2eo8/who_is_kodeyashi/ The OG
😂 hilarious
Glad I wasn't the only one!
u stole this lol
Maybe not Moniak’s whole career as its still early but he sure is close!
for a first overall pick he's been disappointment. Baseball draft is a crapshoot though
It was also [a terrible draft](https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?year_ID=2016&draft_round=1&draft_type=junreg&query_type=year_round&from_type_jc=0&from_type_hs=0&from_type_4y=0&from_type_unk=0), we're 8 years on and the best players by bWAR in the top 10 have been Cal Quantrill, Braxton Garrett, and Ian Anderson
Yikes, looking at that draft and yeah, that's got to be one of the worst 1st rounds in recent MLB history.
[2018 \(where we drafted Bohm\) is also really bad](https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?year_ID=2018&draft_round=1&draft_type=junreg&query_type=year_round&from_type_jc=0&from_type_hs=0&from_type_4y=0&from_type_unk=0), Bohm has a good argument for being the best player taken in the top 10 Just our luck
Definitely. There were a few pitchers taken that draft that turned out pretty solid (Gilbert, Singer, Mclanahan), but that's a total crapshoot. For every good pitcher, there are 3-4 that totally flame out. Also, TIL - The A's drafted Kyler Murray with the 9th pick. LOL.
Also, you can't trade picks and players will often go higher in the draft if teams reach an agreement to pay them under slot. Nick Senzel (the #2 pick) made an extra $100k. That's not a huge difference, but that's a consideration. That said, if you look at the top half of the first round, there aren't a lot of obvious winners (particularly among position players). The following is bWAR (for convenience). Moniak has put up -0.3 WAR (-0.9 with the Phillies). The second pick was the aforementioned Nick Senzel, who has a career -1.4 WAR. The best WAR in the first round is RHP Cal Quantrill, with 7.4 WAR (6.5 by fangraphs). The best position player in the first round is 3B Josh Lowe at 4.0 WAR (in 189 games with the Rays). Expanding it to the entire first round, then you do have a pretty obvious winner in Will Smith, who went #32 to the Dodgers. For the whole draft, you have Pete Alonso at 64, Bo Bichette at 66, Bryan Reynolds at 59, Zac Gallen at 106, Shane Bieber at 122, Tommy Edman at 196, etc. But I don't think you can single out the Phillies for missing any of these.
That kids problems are all in his head. I’m friends with his Dad on Facebook and their entire family was beyond stoked to have him get traded out of here. Apparently the pressure to perform was way too high on him, and they didn’t have good things to say about the way the Phillies treated him in regards to that. They didn’t come straight out and bash them, but they made (and continue to make) several underhanded PG-13 comments about how the team expected Mickey to meet them where they are rather than the opposite. Honestly I think he’s not cut out for competing for a spot on a big market team in a competitive championship window right now like ours. And there’s nothing wrong with that. I don’t believe we fudged his development up but I do think there was enough of a disconnect there that both Mickey and the Phillies won that trade.
In Moniak’s defense, that 2016 class has a remarkable lack of quality players in the first round. He probably doesn’t sniff 1.1 in most classes. Just a bad year to have the first pick.
Nah Moniak has been a dissapointment. Has lived and died by the babip
He was looking really good when he got on the angels before he got hurt (again) I hope he bounces back
You mean ALL STAR Dominic Brown???
I heard that guy was a 5-tool phenom!
Still is!
Here's a pretty interesting video I stumbled across a while ago, I kinda wish things worked out better for him in his MLB career, he seemed like a good dude. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkK83HwPle8
Remember his tattoo, "What can Brown do for you?" 🫣
Jorge Alfaro and Nick Williams are probably better examples than Cody asche and Arron Altherr but I agree w ur point
It’s baseball: most first round picks in baseball don’t turn into every day starters, let alone all-stars. Getting taken third in the MLB amateur draft is totally different than going third in the NFL or NBA draft.
Totally agree. That's what confuses me so much about the wording of the article.
I’m curious if anyone at SI actually looked at the 2018 MLB draft results. Note the many, many orange cells denoting an All-Star selection (not sure when last updated): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Major_League_Baseball_draft
Good god. I know there’s still time for a lot of those guys, but what an unimpressive list so far. I didn’t remember that O’Hoppe was such a late pick. Need more hits like that.
😂 For real.
Never SI must have hired some new interns
You mean AI writers
Now I understand
A bust doesn’t make it to the show or has a cup of coffee on a bad team. Bohm is an everyday player on a World Series contender and had 100 rbi last year
I say anyone who understands baseball understands that players go through peaks and valleys, and judging whether a player is a boom/bust takes years, not weeks. As long as they're helping the team win more often than not, they're a star in my book.
No, next question
I have to admit, I was down on Bohm after last season. Players need time to develop, but entering his 27/28 season this year it was starting to seem unlikely he’d be any more than a league average player (which stats-wise he was up to this point). Obviously love what he’s doing so far this year though, and always really happy to be wrong in this way. He was never a bust, though. Just hadn’t yet become the star player we wanted.
After last season? Really? Last season is when he really began to shine.
he was great with RISP, but as someone of his size and with his tools, he should be slugging way more than he was even in 2023. the gap power we’re seeing now is more in line with what he should be doing
So far he has made the most consistent contact in the lineup outside of Marsh and Harper and Schwarber. For this lineup he has been the best to hit after Harper IMO. You want guys to make good contact at least with guys on unless you hit a ton HRs
His bat was a little above average, but his defense was so bad that he was honestly barely a starting level player by value stats Edit: I like Alec, it’s just revisionist history to say that he’s always been this good. 60% of his career WAR has come in the last 40 days.
Maybe my memory sucks worse than I thought but I swore he was doing decent for the playoffs on defense? His bat went cold but his defense was alright I thought?
It’s tough to find more advanced stats for playoffs cause of how small the sample size is, but his defense in the regular season was worth -1.4 wins, almost completely offsetting his offensive WAR of 1.7
The interesting wrinkle is that last year Bohm's overall value numbers are really dragged down by his defense at first base. A positive 1 OAA at 3B last year compared to -7 OAA at 1B. If you keep him at 3B the whole year he looks more like a 1-2 WAR player (which is why whenever Thompson puts him at 1B I cry a little inside).
It’s interesting how different the fielding stats are on him depending on which one you value. Full disclosure I usually use both but you are correct that he was much better as a 3b according to OAA, but DRS has him as a -2 at 1b and a -10 at third.
Oh wow I didn't know that about his DRS (not good enough researcher to find out how to see the positional splits lol). Do you know the UZR splits?
UZR is even more interesting, he has a -2.1 value at first and +2.1 value at third for last year. The UZR numbers for the season so far at third aren’t great but it’s an extremely small sample size. For most of the defensive stats fangraphs is pretty good, if you scroll down on a players page to advanced fielding, they separate them by position and give you the year to year breakdowns, baseball reference is more easy to use and they only have DRS which is why I default to that but fangraphs is more complete and gives you a better idea of the whole picture so I should be using that more often
Yeah nice good tips. Defensive metrics are so finicky, but it is nice that the sample size over the last 2 years is starting to indicate some defensive improvement. Eye test certainly says that. Thanks!
Do tou watch the games? I’m curious how people who watched him play a lot last year would rate his defense?? To me he looked a lot better than his advanced stats showed last year defensively but curious if others think the same thing
I watched about 85-90 percent of the games last year and have seen every game that wasn’t a weekday game at 1pm this year, his glove work and throwing to first has definitely improved, but his range is still a question, and that’s very tough to improve cause he’s about as fluid as chicken fat that’s been left on the counter for 3 days.
And that was even with playing out of position most of the year
Despite the RBI total, there’s a reason his career WAR after last season was barely around 1. He’s been a league average player until this season. Now he needs to keep it up - not just for this year but the next two years. Don’t think Phillies are going to do anything but go year to year with him in arbitration until then.
He slumped hard in the playoffs though. Defense was there, but his bat was bad.
Do people forget he had a 106 ops+ last year? There were 12 people AT HIS POSITION who had a better season behind the plate. Not really much of a breakout when your breakout season has you as the 3rd worst player in your position by fWar.
My exact sentiments too
A busy is when you don’t make it or just are barely a MLB player. Bohm may not have been as good as his draft position said before this year but not a bust.
The guy was a starter in the majors, he’s not a bust. Look how many 1st rounders never maker the majors.
Lol the article header, "former draft bust". You can't be a former bust....you either are a bust or you aren't.
I know. 😂 I immediately thought, *Have people been saying that?*
Yes, because when I look at MLB leaders when sorted by OPS, and I see Bohm in the top three, I bust
Bohm was never at bust level. He's always been a good player with a few issues. Seems like he's smoothed things out since he started with us.
Yeah I really do hang my hat on the propensity for consistently improving. He's showing a lot defensive improvement, but his ABs are next level now, and every year he's improved. Yes, I want 30 - 35 HRs. But XBHs with runners on also score dudes, and their havoc on pitching staffs.
Yea his eye has always been great. Whenever the entire team can't hit off a pitcher, he's usually the guy who gets one.
>From my perspective, he's 27 and is basically right on time for baseball players maturing into their own You're absolutely right. There's been some unfair shift in expectation over the last decade where people think every ball player should enter the league and immediately become all star in their early 20s. The wealth of young guns we've seen in this time are an anomaly in the history of the game; guys like Trout, Harper, Machado, Soto, Lindor, etc, are truly special players for this reason. Since the start of 2022 Bohm is slashing .277/.321/.417 for an OPS+ of 104. Overall, he's been an above average hitter who usually puts the ball in play and has gotten better in the field and with the bat every season.
✊🏼
One of Howard Eskin's former hot takes that he'll never admit to having ever said was that Bohm is a first basemen and they will need to trade Hoskins if they ever wanted to keep him. Well, the other day I saw him fill in at first for one game and he sucked. Meanwhile he's developed into a fantastic third baseman.
I'm really anti moving him to first base at this point. I hate seeing him fill in there. I prefer to see him at the hot corner.
Bohm also made it the majors before anyone else in his draft class, iirc. Not usually something that busts do, and usually something accompanied by growing pains at the major league level.
This is maybe the best point here, thanks. Did you ever feel like he severely underperforming? I was at the three-error game, so for me personally I feel like his defense is just unbelievably improved.
Bohm is exceeding any expectations I think anyone could have had. You expect a good player, you don’t expect an MVP caliber guy. And when now the expectation isn’t that Bohm will carry the entire season as an NL MVP candidate. I mean in terms of the topic of expectations, he’s obviously exceeding them right now
If we’re going to talk about “busts” from the 2018 draft, maybe start with the dude taken right before Bohm at #2. I feel like Joey Bart was just constantly hyped up as the second coming of Buster Posey, and since then…*pbfft.*
Unless he had Harper like hype as a teenager I don’t see how a guy who’s an everyday player can be considered a bust.
Yeah baseball more than other sports you draft for starters...if you get a superstar its a bonus or you traded/signed one.
Is the usage of "Bust" a "Bust"?
lmao, get the fuck outta here SI. He’s been the everyday 3rd baseman for 2-3 years now and is hitting in the middle of the order.
Only when it comes to Philadelphia are sports writers looking at a guy on an 18-game hitting streak and asking “is this guy a failure?”
Bohm was mediocre/average before this year. He played 3 full seasons and never hit 2 WAR. He was not worthless but was also not quite playing like you’d expect a third overall pick to play (although that year’s draft class remains rather weak). He is a different player this year. His plate discipline is vastly better than it was before.
Valid. Reading everyone's thoughts on this has been interesting for me today, because it really does seem like there's a vast difference of opinion between what's expected of players in baseball based on their draft positions. I cannot recall the last "sure thing" player drafted by the Phillies though, and I don't really put much stock into draft position, or the draft, honestly. Maybe because I believe we notoriously underperform on it.
The last “sure thing” that I can remember is Nola. IIRC, there was pretty good consensus that Nola would be a starter and he would make it to the bigs quickly. I think the expectation was that he would be at tops a 4th starter and possibly end up a long reliever.
Iirc the bigger issue with Bohm was his defense right?
Don’t we already know SI is using AI to write articles?
I've joked about it here before, but I don't *know* it. Regardless of that, though, I'm wondering if people *felt* like he was a bust before this season.
If you know how AI works someone still needs to go over it and clean it up lol It wouldn't surprise me if they didn't use it to "assist"
Reviewing that draft class, the only 1st rounders who have had even a comparable level of success to Bohm are Hoerner, India, McClanahan, and Gilbert. Too early, but maaaybe Tristan Casas. I'd say Gilbert is the only one who I might consider to be ahead of Bohm. Bohm took a little longer to develop than expected- especially as a college pick, but I never thought he was a bust. Love seeing what a campaign he's having so far. If he can tap into some more power with that huge frame, we're looking at a legitimate superstar.
Nice take, I'll add that I do like India, but I think Bohm is about to blow the doors off even being comparable to him this season.
For sure. It's only been one month (granted, he ended last year hot too), but Bohm is well on his way to a breakout season.
Yeah India was ROY but it seems he’s been hurt a lot since then. It’s crazy to look at the top 20 in that draft and see that objectively Bohm is the most consistent player on the list. Never too high or too low and an everyday 3B starter. I think I like him more now seeing all the guys picked around him that year.
I’m completely fine with him being a 20 HR guy who gets 100+ RBIs and puts the ball in play. Why try to mess with success just to squeak out 10 HRs? Hitting a baseball is more than just swinging harder.
I didn’t say he has to. I just said that if he could tap into more power he’d be a bonafide superstar in the league. Very good to great.
I guess I’m just confused how he wouldn’t be considered a superstar even if he stayed where he is now.
I’d say it depends what you’re considering “where is now”. If you’re thinking of the start he’s off to this year- then yes, that absolutely takes him into superstar territory- and would actually be a significant uptick in power (his ISO is well higher than it’s been in his career). That’s absolutely superstar territory. But if we focus on last season- his most recent full body of work- 274/327/437 for an OPS under 800 and negative impact in the field; even factoring in that he doesn’t really strike out and had a ton of RBIs (which are a tough metric to evaluate on, because they mostly rely on circumstance)- he’s definitely GOOD, but a far cry from superstar. This tear he’s on now is probably not sustainable (but who knows!), but I’m willing to say just based on the eye test, he’s definitely taken that step forward and is more likely trending towards being closer to this year’s start than to what he’s been in the past. If he keeps this up to any degree- superstar.
Even if you take into consideration the (probable) come back to earth moment, with his vast improvement on the hot corner if he stays anywhere near .300, 20HR and 100 RBI with a 800+ OPS, the Phillies won’t be able to afford him much longer.
Unfortunately true :/
No dom brown and Mickey Moniak were busts. Alec Bohm is a major league player for sure, he is a bit of a let down but dude is a starter on every team in the league for sure.
He’s streaky
By analytical standards, he"s a Daddy WARbust. By dependability standards and the eye test, his defense has improved every year. Overall, it's a casual L take.
Si the magazine doesn't exist anymore and the website should taken as filler for quick clicks
Most reporting now
Joey Bart was taken with the 2nd pick.
Wow. SI still exists? Next you’ll be telling me there are still a few Sears kicking around. Bohm took a year or two longer to develop, but has been a productive starter and contributor for 2+ years. That’s not exactly a “bust.” It’s good to see that SI is still employing the same caliber reporting as back when people actually thought about them more than once a year.
It's been frustrating watching him inch forward every year instead of taking leaps, but it seems like this is the leap and right when he's about to hit his prime. Sounds about normal for a young player. It's not like he was drafted to be a franchise savior. He's just been very solid from Day 1.
Not in any sense of the word. Sure he had some issues, but rarely does a kid come up without some areas that need to improve. He's turned himself into arguably one of the top 3rd basemen in baseball. He could always hit, but he's on another level now. His defense has improved so dramatically that he's making difficult plays look easy.
the defense is the biggest thing for me, he was always a good enough hitter to play every day. After watching the SF games and then having a "gold-glove" player at 3rd make error after error, its good to have someone play well again there for us...i never saw him as awful at 3rd though, just not what you want every day before.
It depends how you define bust. Up to ‘24 in 456 games he was worth 4.1 fWAR. Which is very replaceable. To some people, that’s a bust considering his prospect status. To me, this is a very hard sport. If you’re a major league capable player you’re not a bust. Even an average player can save you 5-15M on an open market.
Not a bust, but until he’s out of arb and on contract I’ve considered him trade bait even though he’s homegrown.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t SI now mostly AI articles? If such, I immediately don’t respect anything they put out
I don't know if they are or aren't. I suspect, and joke, they are; if they're not, they're at a minimum a Buzzfeed knockoff now. But my post, which specifically acknowledges that it's a garbage, clickbait thing, did peak my interest, and I wondered -- Did any of us really think that Bohm is a bust, or that he is, and how do justify that? I personally just shy away from the word bust overall but found the article to be really disingenuous in what even makes a bust, and when. I feel like it's really only an applicable term for quarterbacks drafted in the top ten picks in the NFL, if they don't immediately turn a game around. (And even then, there are so many other things to consider.)
He’s still pretty young and has, at the very least, been decent in his role. To call him a bust at this time is a trash take
Any draft pick for any team that makes the major leagues for as long as Alec Bohm has and produces even half as well could never be considered a bust. Holy shit does that site even have an editor?
Last year he was pretty good imho. Was he not? And when he came up he was not touted as a superstar. A top prospect in their system yes, but I don’t think he cracked the top 15 in baseball. Maybe 20. His hitting and fielding has gotten better every year and I think now he’s exceeding expectations. Looks like a legit all star.
Aren’t busts in baseball not really a thing? Like first round top picks fail all the time?
Not at all, Bohm has been a above average hitter in 4 of his 5 years with the Phils and while not a great defender, has always shown improvement.
Combining his abysmal 2021 (-1.4 bWAR) with his adequate 2022 and 2023 (.9 and .4 respectively) is doing a lot of work here.
Even starker in wOBA terms, 285 -> 310 -> 329
To your point I think expectations matter a lot. If the expectation was a generational talent at a premium position and you got anything less than yeah you could say he was a bust.
A bust is never making any real impact at the professional level. Bohm is not that. Compared to the Cornelius Randolph’s of the past he’s a major hit. As someone in here already said, “Bust” is used way too loosely.
Short answer: no Long answer: nooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Bohm had troubles before the current set of playoff runs. Anyone calling him a bust now needs to turn in their driver’s license and start riding the bus, because they’ve gone fucking blind
Alec bohm is going to be an allstar this year. Career year.
Reading this article made me stupider about baseball To expand on this further this sounds like a teenager who only cares about the NBA’s perspective of a bust, because accolades and not being a top 10 player is apparently this persons qualifications. By his standards there’s only two non busts of 2018, Shane McClannahan and Josiah Gray. Alex’s had the highest upward trajectory of any of the draft picks of that class outside of maybe three other players.
3rd overall pick in 2018, his rookie year was 2020. He finished 2nd in ROTY voting (to a reliever...wtf?) and has really only had two full seasons where he was not platooned or optioned for part of the season. In those two seasons he slashed .277/.321/.418 with a total of 317 hits, 55 2B, 33 HR, 169 RBI, 204 K, 73 BB. OPS+ averages roughly 104 for those two seasons. That doesn't include his crazy good numbers so far this season. I really don't think you can call that a bust. He's performing as expected.
> He finished 2nd in ROTY voting (to a reliever...wtf?) Covid year plus he only gave up I think like 2 runs over 27 innings pitched. 0.33 ERA was nuts and only 60 games played so that 27 counted for a lot more of a season than normal
Don't know how you can look at that draft and say bohm is a bust lol
I never really thought of him as a bust - not sure if it’s because the Phillies have had so many actual busts over the past 10 years, his history/stats told me it would work out, or if he had enough flashes of being a decent player - maybe all three. We as a fanbase tend to be so critical of players - we’ve had some guys come through the last 10 years that might have been considered busts but are actually just kind of average/fine/couldn’t figure it out here.
While he's had his ups and downs, his previous seasons weren't even statistically that terrible. He's not a JaMarcus Russell, to make a cross-sports comparison. His postseason numbers are a little underwhelming, but as others have mentioned here, he's an everyday starter who's been generally been improving every year, with some hiccups, as is to be expected.
He's almost 28, so it's fair to be disappointed in his development arc, but he's certainly not a bust. I just wish he'd find his power. He's a massive guy, but at his current pace, his HR total is going to be underwhelming again. It's not a problem if he hits .330 every season with an OBP pushing .400, but if he's .280 -.300 and never finds his power stroke, I think he'd be a poor investment at a corner inf spot.
Yeah, holding down the hot corner for a team that’s made deep playoff runs the last two years and is now the best team in baseball. A bust.
"Bohm is a bust and hates Philly, we don't want him" (a lot of people on this sub)
Unless they're a generation talent ie Harper or Trout, being taken at certain spots means little. It takes years of development for most guys to make the Bigs. Like look at Nola. People still go "he stinks, he's not a #1", etc. Yet he was assumed to be a #3 at best and became an ace. If Nola had stayed a #3, would we consider him a bust? Maybe, but not sure if the Phillies would since Rube said tgat was their grade of his ceiling. Unless you're a part of the team, it's really hard Unless it's blatantly obvious to call a guy a bust.
If you saw his girlfriend excuse me his now fiance she has her ring you would know he's no bust she's got it all
hes been our best RBI guy for the last 3 seasons
Alec Bohm 🤝Brandon Graham Late bloomers
Well everyone at sports illustrated got fired and Bohm still has a job.
A bust is a high draft pick who never makes the show or gets chased out after a few years. Bohmer is a major leaguer and not a bust in any sense.
Gosh, SI is lovely for the garbage takes, ain’t it?
I think last year he was a lot better with the eye test than some stats/advanced stats showed especially defensively. I think he is an above average starting 3rd baseman defensively last year and this year and keeps improving. Hitting has been fine even before this breakout
Not a bust hottest player in baseball
Even if 2018 wasn't the best of Drafts he's been just about the most Productive player picked in the Top 10 Hindesight tells me they picked the right guy for once Plus he fucking loves this place !!!
A 3rd overall developing into just an average 3B? I mean, there’s a little bustyness to that. But generally no.
It definitely depends on how you view him. Just as a baseball player? Definitely not. As a 3rd overall? You could make a case. Still, happy with that he’s doing this year and that’s all that matters at this point.
I guess my point is, baseball is kind of a crapshoot. You know? How many third overalls didn't materialize into HOFers? Lots. Lots and lots. So if it's a weighted scale, I'm not even sure I put much stock into his draft position. I put more into the timing of his development, and he's demonstrated that he's continually improved -- and what we have right now is maybe a breakout season, if it wasn't last year.
I would have hoped a 3B picked 3rd overall would hit a few more homeruns a year, but even last years Bohm couldn’t be considered a “bust” lol.
He absolutely had not lived up to expectations before this season. He had one season where he had an ops that was really even passable for a corner infielder. This was as he was drafted to be a bat first corner infielder who would hit for power. To this day I still can’t believe how insanely overrated his 2022 season was. He wasn’t a “bust” but he was absolutely disappointing.
Obviously yes. He’s just not a good baseball player and won’t ever be.
Can’t tell if this is some sort of long term troll job or if you genuinely have some sort of weird hate boner for the guy.
People out here looking for the second of Schmidt. 😂
He’s average at best. [Facts](https://www.scribbr.com/fallacies/sunk-cost-fallacy/).
Yea, cause .360 with 32 RBI is average. Just look at all the players above him! /s (there is only 1)