Phillies: For Alec Bohm, missed 2020 season would be a disaster

Everyone around baseball would be hurt if we don’t have a 2020 MLB season, but top Philadelphia Phillies prospect Alec Bohm would feel it immensely.

There are probably no truly “good” options left for starting and completing some kind of 2020 MLB season, and the impact on the development of young players could be severe. As such, every team should be looking at their top prospects and wondering where we might go from here. For the Philadelphia Phillies, that means third baseman Alec Bohm.

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Expected to challenge for a major league promotion early in the season, and almost definitely a lock to be called up at some point during 2020, Bohm finds himself stuck in an even more perilous limbo than most players across baseball. He was clearly on the verge of being too good for the minors, yet he most likely needed some more seasoning before debuting in Philadelphia. Now, who knows?

If Bohm doesn’t face live pitching of any sort for the entirety of 2020, it would do nothing but stunt his growth. He’s 23, turning 24 in August, and that’s an absolutely terrible time to be out of action for any reason. Look around the National League East at players like Juan Soto and Ronald Acuña Jr., players younger than Bohm who are already established superstars. They’ll be hurt, too, by losing a possible prime season. But all signs indicate that they’ll pick up where they left off, whenever MLB resumes. If Bohm doesn’t even debut in the big leagues until he’s 24 after enduring this lengthy layoff, it’s just not conducive to him making the kind of immediate impact that the Phillies frankly need him to.

Minor League Baseball is in dire straits. It was getting there even before our current situation. And even if MLB gets up and running in 2020, it’s likely that farm systems and player development will still suffer. For Bohm, and players in his situation, it could be a huge hindrance to getting their careers off the ground.

Some will be able to pull it off, coming in cold and making a viable career out of things despite having their chance delayed. And hopefully Alec Bohm forces the issue enough to become one of these players. But other prospects will be hurt immeasurably by this hiatus, their careers never taking off. In these cases, we’ll be left to wonder if this unprecedented sports stoppage was the main culprit. There will be no way of knowing for sure, but a missed year at a critical age and developmental stage is a big deal.

If baseball actually proceeds with a modified and shortened season later this year, the Phillies might be forced to carry Bohm on the big league roster. For starters, the rosters will need to be expanded beyond 26 players if the schedule is going to be condensed. But, also, where else would Bohm get at bats? The minors, as we know them, may not exist. Their investment in him is too large; the Phillies will have no choice but to have him on the big club. It’s far from ideal, but nothing is right now.

Everyone will be impacted in some way by this lack of baseball, and I’ve previously singled out certain players on the Phillies’ current roster who would be hurt more than most. But for every active MLB player with experience, salary, and service time under their belts, there are even more guys like Alec Bohm, ones who are still waiting for their chance and now face a completely uncertain future.

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Bohm will never get this year of his career back if the season ends up completely canceled, and it remains to be seen if the impact will extend beyond just 2020. If it does, the Phillies organization will have taken a big hit, through no fault of their own for once.

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