Phillies To Place Alec Bohm On Injured List, Select Drew Ellis

The Phillies will select the contract of infielder Drew Ellis from Triple-A Lehigh Valley and place fellow infielder Alec Bohm on the 10-day injured list, reports Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link). Yesterday, Bohm underwent an MRI on an ailing hamstring that has kept him out of the past few games. The Phillies have a full 40-man roster, so they’ll need to make a corresponding move in order to get Ellis to the big league level.

Following Rhys Hoskins’ season-ending ACL tear in spring training and Darick Hall’s thumb surgery in early April, Bohm has taken the lion’s share of playing time at first base for the injury-plagued Phillies (though he’s still logged plenty of action at the hot corner as well). Bohm has turned in a solid, if unspectacular .265/.321/.403 while grading out as a below-average defender at both infield corners. It’s not yet clear how much time he’ll be expected to miss, but in his stead, the Phils will likely turn to utilityman Kody Clemens at first base. The newly selected Ellis and utilitymen Edmundo Sosa and Josh Harrison figure to see time at third base.

Clemens, 27, came over from the Tigers in the Gregory Soto trade this offseason and has batted .268/.333/.479 with four homers in 78 plate appearances. He’s done so while striking out at a hefty 28.2% rate, so it could be tough for him to maintain that average, but he’s elevating the ball consistently (46.9% fly-ball rate, 24.5% line-drive rate) and making plenty of hard contact (90.1 mph average exit velocity), lending some credence to the power output.

It’s worth noting that Hall, who like Clemens bats left-handed, embarked on a minor league rehab assignment two days ago. He’s out to a 3-for-9 start with the Phillies’ High-A affiliate, and while the team likely wants him to get more than nine plate appearances after undergoing surgery to repair a torn ligament in his thumb, Hall could be a big league option in the very near future. The 27-year-old slugger showed an all-or-nothing skill set in 2022 when he made his big league debut and hit .250/.282/.522 with nine dingers in just 142 plate appearances.

Ellis, 27, has seen big league time with the D-backs and Mariners across the past two seasons but signed a minor league deal with the Phillies over the winter. He’s batted just .141/.270/.212 in a tiny sample of 100 MLB plate appearances, walking at a hearty 11% clip against a more concerning 34% strikeout rate. He’s posted huge numbers while splitting time evenly between the Phillies’ Double-A and Triple-A clubs in 2023, with a .269/.380/.628 slash and eight long balls in just 78 plate appearances.

Defensively, Ellis has primarily been a third baseman, though he’s gathered experience at other spots as well. In recent years, he’s seen playing time at first base (344 innings), second base (275 innings) and even a few brief appearances at shortstop (19 innings). Like Sosa and Harrison, he’s a right-handed hitter, so there’s no neat platoon possibility at the hot corner. However, he could serve as a righty complement to Clemens and/or Hall at first base while Bohm mends, and if he can carry over any of that power display to the Majors, he could earn some additional at-bats across the diamond.