He doesn't just look like a promising rookie, Alec Bohm legitimately looks like one of the more dangerous hitters in the National League, already, just 36 games into his big-league career.
Bohm had another multi-hit game Friday afternoon in the Phillies' 7-0 win over the Blue Jays. He went 2 for 3 with an RBI. Both hits were line drives — a real shocker.
Bohm has 28 line-drive hits this season. Let's give that a little context. It is the most on the Phillies, despite Bohm not playing their first 13 games.
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It's one fewer line-drive hit than Mike Trout has.
In Game 2, Bohm hit the game-winning single.
Bohm has 28 hits this month, second-most in the majors, just one hit behind Freddie Freeman.
And again, it's not just the numbers. It's the quality of contact and the approach at the plate. Bohm uses the whole field. He strokes liners to the gap in right-center as much as he singles up the middle or between short and third. He does not look like the kind of player who can be easily shifted against. That came up in Game 2 when Bohm hit a ball right to where the second baseman should have been. The Blue Jays shifted a player who looks unshiftable and paid the price. It will be interesting to see how teams defend Bohm moving forward.
MLB
This has looked so much different than the hot starts by Domonic Brown or Rhys Hoskins.
Bohm hasn't missed a beat since moving up from seventh or eighth in the Phillies' lineup to third or fourth. In seven games batting in the middle of the order, he's gone 11 for 31 (.354) with two doubles and two homers.
He's got to be the NL Rookie of the Year frontrunner at this point. Padres infielder Jake Cronenworth had been pacing the class this season but has slumped the last 10 days, hitting .192 as Bohm keeps raking.
Cronenworth has hit .310/.369/.531 this season.
Bohm has hit .326/.382/.496.
Sixto Sanchez will have a major say in this but he allowed five runs in four innings Friday. His ERA rose to 2.75. He's still pitched very well in four of six starts.
Only four Phillies have ever won NL Rookie of the Year: Ryan Howard in 2005, Scott Rolen in 1997, Dick Allen in 1964 and pitcher Jack Sanford in 1957.