February 26, 2026
Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Imagn Images
Alec Bohm seems to be prioritizing contact over power at this point.
Baseball is back — and so are most of the Phillies.
After a dominating 96-win season in 2025 and a devastating early exit to the eventual World Series champions, the Dodgers, the championship window is still open for the Phils, but for how long?
The Phillies will enter 2026 with the fifth best World Series odds (+1500, via FanDuel). Expectations are still high, as is the level of talent in the clubhouse.
Sticking to their organizational mentality that keeping the window open requires keeping the core together — while also opening up some space for an infusion of young talent — a largely familiar group will be returning to comprise the 26-man roster when camp breaks in March.
As we do every preseason, here's a deep dive into each position on the roster and its outlook heading toward Opening Day. Today, we'll look at third baseman Alec Bohm, who will be in his contract year.
It's a big year for Alec Bohm, like it was last spring, in the spring of 2024, and the spring of 2023.
In 2023, third base was completely his. It just became a matter of how far he could run with it as an unquestioned starter, and if he could make his glove a little sharper. He hit .274 that season, with a career-best 20 home runs and 97 runs batted in, then hit the solo shot in Game 7 of the NLCS that gave the Phillies a lifeline until they ultimately fell to Arizona.
In 2024, All-Star honors seemed like the next step, and with a great first half, he got the nod. Then he fell off in the second half coming back, had a brutal NLDS against the Mets that saw him slamming his helmet and even getting benched, and after the series loss, he went into the offseason with fans wanting some kind of change to the lineup and with his name swirling around in trade rumors. Ultimately, he stayed.
In 2025, manager Rob Thomson talked about how Bohm reported to camp like he was "a different guy, like he's grown up again," and for the most part, he was OK.
He hit .287, which became his career-best batting average, and was one of the few Phillies hitters who could actually make his way on base during last October's NLDS loss to the Dodgers. But his power, which was already underwhelming, waned further.
He hit just 11 home runs, 18 doubles, and drove 59 runs in. None of his hits in the postseason went for extra bases.
Bohm was mostly used as a right-handed bat in the cleanup spot last season, and since the majority of the lineup is returning in 2026, Thomson figures to keep Bohm there, at least to start.
But that lack of power really isn't going to cut it in the four hole, or typically it hasn't at least. Moreover, Bohm doesn't seem interested or disillusioned into trying to swing the bat that way now.
“When you think of a [No.] 4 hitter, everybody wants home runs,” Bohm told MLB.com beat Todd Zolecki earlier this month. “At this point, it’s not necessarily the whole part of my game. I’m not a prototypical four hitter. I put the ball in play. I’m contact over power. I will strike out less, hit more, walk less. But what I can do is be somebody behind those guys that they still don’t necessarily want to pitch to in a situation with guys on base because they know I can move the ball around the yard."
So what you have is what you get with Bohm this coming season, whether you like his game, hate it, or are indifferent to it.
And it can be more than serviceable, make no mistake. But will it be for a very similar lineup that keeps hitting a very similar wall come October?
Bohm is in his contract year. He'll be a free agent after this season, and top infield prospect Aidan Miller is right there in camp.
It feels like another big year for Bohm, but more because it heavily feels, at least for now, that this could very well be his last in Philadelphia.
Bohm has been a constant within the NL East at the hot corner ever since he found his footing in 2022, but 2026 has brought on a shift among that collective position group.
Here's a look at the projected starters, their slash lines for 2025 (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage), their projections for 2026, and their WAR (wins above replacement) for last season:
| Player, Club | 2025 slash line | 2026 proj. | 2025 WAR (Gms) |
| Alec Bohm, PHI | .287/.331/.409 | .276/.328/.429 | 1.5 (120) |
| Bo Bichette, NYM | .311/.357/.483 | .288/.335/.446 | 3.5 (139) |
| Austin Riley, ATL | .260/.309/.428 | .265/.327/.467 | 1.3 (102) |
| Connor Norby, MIA | .251/.300/.389 | .251/.309/.410 | 0.7 (88) |
| Brady House, WSH | .234/.252/.322 | .250/.293/.378 | -0.6 (73) |
The Marlins, with Norby at age 25, and the Nationals, with House at age 22, are trying to bring their youth along.
The Braves have Riley coming back, hoping he can stay healthy and bounce back as a steady power hitter.
And the Mets, they got Bichette in free agency. Maybe just for one year with that insane, opt-out heavy contract. But in the end, they did get him, and blocked the Phillies from getting him, at the 11th hour. That might be a point of contention in the rivalry all season.
Edmundo Sosa is expected to keep moving around the infield and filling in admirably for any infielder in need of a day off, like Bohm inevitably will.
Otto Kemp, who looks set to stay with the team full-time, is a third base option off the bench, too.
Then there's Miller.
Again, he's right there.
Trea Turner isn't moving away from shortstop, and Bryson Stott isn't expected to leave second base just yet either.
Bohm has free agency on the horizon, and Miller has buzz down in Clearwater.
The future might be right around the corner.
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