Alec Bohm's RBI Hit-by-Pitch a Symbol of How Far He and the Phillies Have Come

The Philadelphia Phillies have had some bad experiences getting hit with pitches this year, but on Friday afternoon a hit-by-pitch led to their first run of the 2022 MLB postseason.

Leo Morgenstern | Oct 8, 2022

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Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies have had some terrible experiences getting hit by pitches this year. On May 31, Jean Segura broke his finger after it was hit by a fastball on a bunt attempt. Less than a month later, Bryce Harper broke his thumb after getting beaned by Blake Snell. Both players missed significant time on the IL.

So, what better way to represent how far this Phillies team has come than to see the thing that once brought them down lifting them up?

In the top of the ninth inning on Friday, with one out, the bases loaded, and Philadelphia down by two, Alec Bohm was hit in the arm with a blistering fastball. While the momentum of the pitch and his attempt to avoid it brought him down to the ground, he did not linger there in pain.

No, the 26-year-old third baseman jumped right up and clapped his hands for J.T. Realmuto, who was jogging home from third base. The Phillies had just scored their first postseason run in over a decade.

An RBI hit-by-pitch isn't how most players dream of being a hero. But, of course, there's not much about this Phillies season that went exactly according to plan.

Bohm certainly never dreamed of endearing himself to the Phillies faithful by playing a terrible game at third base, getting caught on camera saying some disrespectful words, and then owning what he said, apologizing, and promising to do better.

The Phillies, for their part, certainly did not dream of ending their postseason drought this way. Segura, Harper, Zach Eflin, and Corey Knebel suffered major injuries. Bryson Stott, Darick Hall, Bailey Falter, and José Alvarado stepped up.

Nick Castellanos struggled in the early going, and Harper floundered down the stretch, but Kyle Schwarber led the league in home runs and Realmuto had the best season of his career.

The Opening Day shortstop and the longtime center fielder were both cut midway through the season, yet Philadelphia might just have found their new shortstop and center fielder of the future along the way.

The Phillies lost the season series to the Cubs, the Giants, and the Rangers. But they won the season series against the Dodgers, the Padres, and the Cardinals.

Unlike in previous years, this team did not let the setbacks bring them down. Time and time again, the adversity only made them stronger.

When the 100.8 MPH pitch from Ryan Helsley first came hurtling towards Alec Bohm, it was terrifying. But Bohm and the Phillies turned it into something great. They've been doing that all year, and if they can keep doing it into October, they're going to be tough to beat.

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Published Oct 8, 2022

LEO MORGENSTERN

Leo Morgenstern is a writer and editor for Inside the Phillies. He also writes for FanGraphs and Just Baseball, and his work has appeared on Pitcher List and Baseball Prospectus. He previously covered the Phillies for SB Nation's The Good Phight. You can follow him on Twitter @morgensternmlb.