It has been a strange start to the 2025 season for Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Brandon Marsh. In case you've been living under a rock, he's currently mired in the slump of all slumps. It got so bad that Phillies manager Rob Thomson decided to give Marsh what was supposed to be a few days off to clear his head, but ended up being just one game.
Marsh is on an epic 0-for-29 run at the plate, although he did record a sacrifice fly on Tuesday, which was a step in the right direction. He's now batting .100, with a .404 OPS and a 30.6 percent strikeout rate. It begs the question: how did we get here?
The Phillies may finally have to admit that the left-handed hitting Marsh will never be the all-around offensive player they believed he could be, and continued promoting him as coming into this season. He has athletic tools, but his fatal flaw, his kryptonite, continues to be left-handed pitching.
Phillies have to recognize Brandon Marsh's limitations versus left-handers
Coming into 2025, the 27-year-old was hitting .216 versus left-handed pitching for his career. The Phillies' plan, stated publicly, was to give him more time against southpaws early on because they seem to be convinced he can hit against pitchers of the left-handed persuasion.
Yet, from the eye test, surface-level stats and underlying metrics, it certainly doesn't look like he can.
The Los Angeles Angels must have known this when they traded him to the Phillies in 2022. He hit .260 in 77 at-bats versus lefties in his short debut season with the Angels in 2021. But once the league figured him out, his average when facing lefties plummeted to .192 in 2022 before the trade.
From the Phillies' perspective, when they made the deal for Marsh, he was still just 24 years old. He was a young player with just 163 games of MLB experience under his belt, with time to develop. The Phillies sent top catching prospect Logan O'Hoppe to the Angels in return, and the following season, Marsh made the Phillies look good in the trade.
Marsh's track record against left-handed pitching while Phillie is not good
He played in 133 games in 2023, hit .277 with an .829 OPS, 12 home runs, 60 RBIs and 10 stolen bases in 472 plate appearances. Those are solid numbers, but even then, they were dragged down but a .229 batting average and wild 39.1 percent strikeout rate in 96 at-bats against left-handers.
Last season, Marsh's batting average and OPS dropped, but he was still productive with 16 homers and another 60 RBIs with 19 steals. He still hit just .192 against lefties.
Now, it seems as if his struggles versus lefties has infected the rest of his at-bats. This season, his .154 average and 47.1 percent strikeout rate against southpaws is an eyesore. Somehow, he's hitting even worse against right-handers now. A career .265 hitter against righties, he's hitting .074 against them in 2025.
Marsh has 321 games as a Phillie under his belt. In 240 plate appearances against left-handed pitching, he has a .205 batting average, .606 OPS, 39.2 percent strikeout rate and 69 wRC+. When will the Phillies finally acknowledge his limitations?
Marsh has to figure it out for Phillies' outfield plan to have any hope of working
Marsh isn't the only Phillies batter struggling to get going at the plate early this season. While the team hopes that some downtime will fix what ails him, there will be a limit to how long they can wait for him to come around.
Marsh obviously knows the magnifying glass is on him, and he's feeling the pressure and the weight of his slump, per Corey Seidman of NBC Sports Philadelphia.
"Yeah, you know…" Marsh said after the Phillies' 7-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday, per Seidman. "It's been a rough start to the season for sure. I'm not doing my part, which stinks the worst. Just feel like I'm letting my guys down. I need to be better for them."
He's a nine-hole hitter. He's not supposed to be a key cog of the vaunted offense, but playing a premier position like center field, he has to at the very least hold his own with the bat. If he doesn't start showing signs of life as April drags on, there's a non-zero chance that Marsh finds himself optioned to Triple-A to get his game in order.
He doesn't have to set the world on fire against left-handers. But with Johan Rojas the other center field option in the Phillies' flawed outfield plan, Marsh needs to at least be able to battle and put up quality at-bats when in the lineup against a left-handed starter.