ATLANTA — The Phillies moved struggling Alec Bohm down three spots in the lineup for Thursday’s series finale at Truist Park.
Bohm bats seventh against Braves right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach.
- Kyle Schwarber, DH (L)
- Trea Turner, SS
- Bryce Harper, 1B (L)
- Nick Castellanos, RF
- Max Kepler, LF (L)
- J.T. Realmuto, C
- Alec Bohm, 3B
- Bryson Stott, 2B (L)
- Brandon Marsh, CF (L)
Is the change temporary?
“We’ll see,” manager Rob Thomson said. “I’m just trying to take a little heat off of Bohmer and Casty’s swinging the bat good. That’s really what it comes down to.”
“(He’s) probably disappointed. He likes hitting where he’s hitting. But I think he also realizes that he’s not swinging the bat the way he normally does.”
Bohm went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts in Wednesday’s 4-3 win and is 4-for-35 (.114) without a walk or extra-base hit in his last eight games.
He hit a two-run double in extra innings in the Phillies’ Opening Day win in D.C. but has gone 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position since.
Part of it has been bad luck. Wednesday was his worst night of the season but Bohm actually has a career-high rate of hard-hit balls and barrels so far. He’s lined out or flied out to deep center and right-center nine times — that’s one-fifth of his plate appearances. If even three of those balls fell in, he’d be hitting 66 points higher.
“I think a lot of hitters get into that at times where they’re hitting the ball hard and not getting any results and then they start tweaking things because they think they’re not doing something right,” Thomson said. “I’m not saying that’s what he’s doing but that’s what happens. You have to look at it realistically and know that things are good, it’s just bad luck right now.
“Just reminding him that he was an All-Star last year with 97 RBIs and a high batting average. It’s not like you want to move guys around but sometimes there’s a need for it and sometimes it helps the guy to just kind of relax and put himself on auto-pilot and just go play.”
It helps that Castellanos has been hitting. He’s looked comfortable at the plate since Opening Day, batting .308/.372/.538 with three doubles, two home runs, seven RBI and four walks.
The Phillies will hope to play fast on Thursday night. Heavy rain is expected anywhere from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. in Atlanta and is expected to remain consistent through the night once it begins.
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