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Homegrown Phillies Alec Bohm and Ranger Suárez don’t want to go anywhere. Here’s the extension case for each.

With Bohm and Suárez off to blazing starts, and the Phillies’ recent wave of contract extensions, let’s examine each player’s outlook for a multiyear deal.

Alec Bohm, left, and Ranger Suarez
Alec Bohm, left, and Ranger SuarezRead moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

Alec Bohm stood alone in the Angel Stadium outfield two hours before a game this week. He jogged a few paces, stretched, then kept jogging. In his eye line, on the left field scoreboard, was an all-caps list of National League batting leaders.

1. MOOKIE BETTS, LAD: .368

2. ALEC BOHM, PHI: .366

3. WILL SMITH, LAD: .362

Could there be a better encapsulation of how far Bohm has come with the Phillies? He was a trade candidate in spring training 2022 before opening the season as the righty-hitting half of a third base platoon and making three errors in three innings of an April game at Citizens Bank Park.

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Cue the boos. And the derisive cheers. And, well, ...

“I [expletive] hate this place.”

You know the story. Cameras caught Bohm’s reaction, which went viral. He copped to the gaffe. He apologized. It was embarrassing. He also leaned into it, and Saturday night, the Phillies are giving away a kids’ T-shirt with a twist on his words: “I love this place.”

How’s that for a repaired reputation?

But Bohm’s on-field 180 is equally impressive. He’s the Phillies’ everyday third baseman now and cleanup hitter behind Bryce Harper. He’s their best hitter with runners in scoring position and an RBI machine, with 97 last season and 30 already through Thursday. He’s also among the hottest hitters in the league through five weeks.

And given the Phillies’ recent tendency toward roster continuity, Bohm and homegrown lefty Ranger Suárez — named National League pitcher of the month Friday after starting 5-0 with a 1.32 ERA — could be prime candidates for multiyear contract extensions.

“That’s so far down the road in my brain, it hasn’t really crossed my mind too much,” said Bohm, under team control through the 2026 season. “The deeper I get into this career, I kind of understand how rare it is for a guy to get four years, five years, six years [in the majors]. I’m more of a one-day-at-a-time guy.”

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Suárez, signed out of Venezuela as a 16-year-old in 2012 and controllable through next season, maintained that he isn’t thinking beyond the here and now, either.

“I’ve always been a Phillie, I would like to remain a Phillie, but my goal is to stay in the big leagues for as long as possible,” he said through a team interpreter in spring training. “Of course I’d like an extension. But when we get to that topic, that’s not for me to handle. That’s for my agents.”

As a policy, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski doesn’t discuss potential contract negotiations. But with Bohm and Suárez off to blazing starts, and the Phillies’ recent wave of contract extensions, let’s examine each player’s case for a multiyear deal.

Suárez: Health may bring wealth

Suárez, 28, made his major-league debut in 2018. He was a reliever in 2019 and missed most of the short 2020 season after getting sick with COVID-19.

It wasn’t until midway through the 2021 season, after a brief stint as a closer, that Suárez became a full-time starter. He hasn’t topped 155⅓ innings or 29 starts in a season. Last year, he was slowed by an elbow strain in March while ramping up for the World Baseball Classic and a hamstring strain in August.

The Phillies went through the arbitration process twice with Suárez, who is making $5.05 million this year. He’s eligible for arbitration once more before free agency after the 2025 season, when he will be 30.

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But Suárez is evolving into a top-end starter. He developed his curveball to help against right-handed hitters. He has given up one hit and held opponents to a .040 average on his changeup. And the sinker remains his signature.

Few pitchers get weaker contact, usually on the ground. Entering his start Saturday against the San Francisco Giants, Suárez was tied for third in average exit velocity (81.9 mph) and ranked second in ground ball rate (60.8%). Neither was far off his career averages (87.1 mph, 54.4%).

“He’s just commanding the baseball so well,” catcher J.T. Realmuto said. “In the past, he’d have these sparks of awesome outings where he’s unhittable, then some where he’s got four or five walks and really just grinds through at-bats, getting a lot of 3-2 counts. Every start he’s gone out there this year, he’s attacked the strike zone. He’s commanding every pitch he’s got.”

Suárez attributes his consistency to an on-time arrival for spring training as opposed to previous years’ tardiness because of visa delays. Maybe it really is that simple.

But Suárez often projects a playful matter-of-factness when he talks about pitching, as though he always has a secret he won’t divulge. A few people close to him said he was angry after giving up three runs in 4⅔ innings in Game 7 of the NL Championship Series and suggested it may have caused him to redouble his offseason training.

In spring training, Suárez cited staying healthy and pitching 200 innings as his 2024 goals. Doing so could put him in position for an extension. Twins righty Pablo López was one year younger than Suárez, with one year of arbitration eligibility remaining, when Minnesota locked him up early last season for four years and $73.5 million.

Factor in Suárez’s 1.62 ERA in the last two postseasons and he could push for a higher average annual salary.

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Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola are under contract for a total of $66.56 million per year through 2027. Taijuan Walker is due $18 million in both 2025 and 2026. Locking up Suárez for an average of, say, $20 million per year would give the Phillies a nine-figure annual investment in the rotation.

But lefty Cristopher Sánchez is a low-cost starter. And with top prospect Andrew Painter and perhaps Mick Abel poised to join the rotation next season, the Phillies will have starters at the bottom end of the payroll spectrum.

Meanwhile, Suárez isn’t distracted from the goal.

“If I stay healthy throughout the year and I stay pitching,” he said, “that’s going to take me where I want to go.”

Bohm: Fulfilling the promise

Never mind Bohm’s verbal faux pas. The three-error game represented a fork in his career path. And he’s keenly aware of how differently the last 24 months could have gone.

“The history before that game was what it was, you know?” Bohm said this week. “I hadn’t shown that I earned the right to be an everyday third baseman in the big leagues. There were still questions. I would make mistakes and kind of not show that I’m the most comfortable guy over there at times.

“I definitely think of how those could’ve been my last days here. Because that was obviously a possibility with the way everything was kind of shaking out. It was a matter of finding a way to earn the right to be an everyday big league player. Because that’s a rare thing. Everybody that comes up here just doesn’t get that right. You’ve got to prove that.”

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Bohm has thrived since Rob Thomson was elevated to interim manager in June 2022. He always hit with runners on base and used the field. But he finally reached the 20-homer mark last season and has made marked improvements as a defender.

At 27, Bohm’s power and patience at the plate appear to be aligning. He entered the weekend on a 151-RBI pace. He’s fulfilling the promise that came with being drafted third overall in 2018.

Bohm tends to be guarded. He’s an introvert. He wears a winter cap over his shaggy blonde hair even in the summer. He’s also represented by agent Scott Boras, whose clients rarely pass up a first crack at free agency. By then, maybe infielder Aidan Miller — the Phillies’ power-hitting 2023 first-round pick — will be ready for the majors.

Whatever happens, it’s clear that Bohm is finally comfortable in Philadelphia after the most uncomfortable moment of his career. He even joined teammate and close friend Brandon Marsh in ringing the bell Thursday night before Game 6 of the Sixers’ playoff series against the Knicks.

“I don’t think about being other places, but I think about what could’ve happened,” Bohm said. “It just gives me a little more gratitude for the opportunity to have the trust of an entire staff and have everybody behind me and know that you’re a big leaguer, you’re an everyday player. I’m not checking my phone at night to see what the lineup is. I know I’m in there. That’s kind of more of a comforting feeling, I guess.”

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