He played baseball at Leonard with fellow future Major League pitchers Ryan Hawblitzel and Kevin Ohme.

[4] He spent three seasons in the Expos farm system before being selected by the Colorado Rockies in the 1992 Major League Baseball expansion draft.

[1] On July 26, 1993, Bochtler was traded to the San Diego Padres along with Brad Ausmus and a player to be named later for Greg W. Harris and Bruce Hurst.

[5] Bochtler made his Major League debut on May 5, 1995, at Jack Murphy Stadium against the San Francisco Giants; he recorded four outs in relief of Fernando Valenzuela without allowing a run.

[4][6] He recorded the first save of his Major League career on September 13 of the same season in two perfect innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium.

[19] He returned to Edmonton in 2002 where he would play with Johan Santana,[20] then a struggling young player who had failed to find success at the Major League level.

According to Bochtler, in their time at Edmonton, he taught Santana the changeup which would help him win multiple Cy Young Awards.

[24] Bochtler was replaced by coach Ben Fritz on the San Diego staff when new manager Jayce Tingler was hired following the 2019 season.