May 6, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Edmundo Sosa (33) celebrates win with third baseman Alec Bohm (28) against the Athletics during the eighth inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
Also, Edmundo Sosa getting another outfield shot?
PHILADELPHIA -- For the second game in a row, Edmundo Sosa will get the nod over Alec Bohm at third base, but it may not last much longer.
That's because Bohm appears to be trending toward getting back in the lineup on Saturday against the Colorado Rockies.
Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said that the plan was always to give Bohm two days off - one to clear is head, and another to ramp back up.
"We knew yesterday, I just didn't want to say it," Mattingly said. "Yesterday I wanted him to do nothing for the most part and then today get back into the groove, get some work in and go back in tomorrow."
Alec Bohm will be back in the lineup tomorrow, Don Mattingly said. Thursday was used as a full reset day, and he took a long BP today.
Mattingly said he believes Bohm is in good spirits, and notes that you can’t harp on the past in this sport. pic.twitter.com/H2BG27TnP9
— Luke Arcaini (@ArcainiLuke) May 8, 2026
Bohm took a lengthy, early batting practice. But he had a lot of eyeballs on him.
Assistant hitting coach Edwar Gonzalez was standing behind the cage while several of Bohm's teammates -- J.T. Realmuto, Bryson Stott, and Garrett Stubbs among them -- watched from the side of the cage.
Mattingly watched the first part of the session -- which lasted about 20 minutes -- from the outfield and then came in to watch with everyone else for the final few minutes.
"He felt good about it," Mattingly said. "But it's not the first time, right? He's been out here working and trying to, you know, figure this thing out. Again, he's going to be fine."
Mattingly is doubling down on a Bohm rebound after saying the same thing on Thursday prior to the Phillies loss to the Athletics.
Asked about his impression of how Bohm has handled his struggles, Mattingly felt Bohm is still in a good head space.
"He seems fine to me," Mattingly said. "Obviously guys don't like to struggle and they know that's not going to make him happy. I don't think he's just going to be jumping around here, all happy about what's going the way it's going. But as far as being ready to play again, we're not getting anything back from what happened yesterday into the beginning of the regular season. None of that's coming back. So the only thing we cand o is move forward, play good baseball and move on to the next day."
Sounds simple, but it's not that easy. Still, the Phillies are going to give him another opportunity to be a reclamation project, mostly because they don't really have another alternative.
Sosa is fine, but as has happened in the past when he's filled in for Bohm or Trea Turner because of injury, he was good for awhile before falling off with extended use.
And it's the time of year where not many deals happen, so to expect the Phillies to just go trade for a third baseman doesn't seem realistic in May as it would in July.
So Bohm has some time. And he'll get another chance. But will it be his last?
While Bohm was taking that extended batting practice, Sosa was in left field with outfield coach Paco Figueroa shagging Bohm's flies.
He caught most of the balls hit his way but did have an adventure on a couple of balls that reached the wall.
The Phillies abandoned this idea last year rather quickly, but Mattingly may want to give it another go.
"We talked about it and I just wanted to make sure everybody was good with it," Mattingly said. "For me, I want as much versatility within our lineup. ... He's a good athlete. It sounds like there was one play the last time he played out there that went bad and we abandoned it. So, for me, I'm putting him out there to let him get some work. If he's comfortable and he looks good, we'll see where it goes."
Before that "one play" there was another one that didn't necessarily go bad:
EDMUNDO SOSA IN HIS FIRST OUTFIELD START ROBS OZUNA! pic.twitter.com/GDSjEywGkj
— Crossing Broad (@CrossingBroad) April 8, 2025
Stubbs is another guys who continues to take extended work at multiple positions. He was working on ground ball drills on the side, then took to the second base bag to work on double play turns before shifting to third base and fielding grounders from infield coach Bobby Dickerson.
Mattingly likes options, and it looks like he's exhausting all possibilities so he can have as many as possible in his quiver.
The attention to detail in these pregame workouts has been on the uptick since Mattingly took over as manager.
Justin Crawford spent time working on getting secondary leads at second base, but also improving his outfield defense in centerfield.
That's because his numbers, so far, have been pretty subpar.
According to Fangraphs, Crawford has minus-8 defensive runs saved, which is tied for worst in baseball among 167 qualifying fielders. His minus-3 outs above average is tied for 11th worst of the same cohort (minus catchers, who don't get measured in this category).
"I know some of the numbers haven't come back very well, but our job is... keep trying to get him better in every area," Mattingly said. "We love his attitude. He's a good kid. He works. We got to do the best we can to get him to be the best player he can out there. He's still a kid, right? And he has not played a ton of center field. But we know he has the capability of doing it."
