PHILADELPHIA — Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm didn’t know what to say. He had just committed three errors against the Mets. After making a routine play in the second inning, the fans at Citizens Bank Park gave him a sarcastic cheer.
Bohm turned to his former teammate, shortstop Didi Gregorius and said, “I [expletive] hate this place.” It was caught on camera and after the game, a group of journalists were standing by his locker, waiting to ask him about it.
Nick Castellanos walked up to him in the clubhouse.
“Do you know what you’re going to tell them?” He said.
“No,” Bohm said.
“That’s OK,” Castellanos replied. “I know how lonely that feels, making three errors in a game. Own it. Don’t shy away from it. Just be honest.
“I know that right now it seems like it’s your whole career in a moment, but it’s really just a small bump on a wonderful masterpiece. You’re going to look back on this as something that made you better.”
Bohm walked in front of the cameras and decided to take accountability. He admitted what he said. He expressed remorse for it. The next day, he received a standing ovation.
It’s hard for Bohm to fathom that that game was one year ago, April 11, 2022. Instead, it feels like two years ago, maybe three. A lot has changed since then. Bohm is hitting for more power. He’s improved defensively.
He has also made errors. He’s gone through slumps. But now, he doesn’t dwell on them.
He looks at that moment as a turning point, one that made him better, just like Castellanos said it would.
“Now, when I go a couple of games without getting a hit or I make an error, I go back to ‘Well, that’s not as bad as it has been,’” Bohm said. “I don’t want to say that was rock bottom, I’m playing in the big leagues still, but after experiencing that kind of failure, I’m definitely better equipped to handle failures in the future.”
Infield coach Bobby Dickerson likes to say that he didn’t make the big leagues because he was a “hard trier.” He couldn’t deal with failure. He was a different player in batting practice than he was when the lights came on. He saw some of that in Bohm last year.
After the three-error game, Dickerson had a talk with his pupil.
“As long as you press, nobody will ever see how good you are,” Dickerson said. “They’ll see the guy that’s trying not to make a mistake, the guy that’s trying to dance that can’t dance. The guy that dances better in their living room than they do on stage.
“As long as that’s your presentation, no one is going to know if you can actually be a great big leaguer or not, including yourself.”
Bohm took note. He also leaned on Castellanos, who had played third base before being moved to the outfield. On April 28, 2017, in a home game against the White Sox, Castellanos made three errors in a game — two of them in the same inning. Hearing that gave Bohm some much needed perspective.
“When a guy who has been exactly where you are, and has experienced exactly what you’re going through, knows exactly how hard it is… to see where he’s at in his career and everything now, getting his 10th season this year, it’s like, ‘It’s going to be all right,’ ” Bohm said. “He’s doing fine. Just stay the course. Keep doing what you’re doing. Keep showing up until they tell you to not show up one day.
“It’s comforting to be able to look around and see that everybody who is here has struggled. There’s a learning curve.”
Bohm still has his demons. Castellanos likes to try to keep him in check. On April 1 in Texas, he grounded into a double play in the sixth inning. He slammed his helmet down in frustration. Castellanos approached him a few hours later, when they were back at the team hotel.
“Hey, man, what do we got right there?” He asked.
“Yeah, that was stupid,” Bohm said.
“Just know that later that mistake you made on the field will be connected to you slamming your helmet down on the field,” Castellanos replied.
Those bursts of emotions are few and far between. But Castellanos has seen that Bohm is more cognizant of his emotions. And with time, he believes Bohm will handle those emotions even better.
“Just last year, if he punched out or whatever there’d be a lot more frustration,” Castellanos said. “But as you get older, more confident, and more secure, you understand that the lows are part of it. And they’re only temporary.”
