The Philadelphia Phillies head into their Easter Sunday series finale with the Miami Marlins on a three-game winning streak after a wild 11-10 win on Saturday. Despite owning a 13-8 record and sitting just one game back of the New York Mets in the NL East, the Phillies have had their share of early season troubles.
One of the glaring problems has been the hole in the lineup in center field, brought about by Brandon Marsh. It looks like the Phillies may have found a temporary solution for dealing with Marsh’s horrific start to the season.
Phillies place Brandon Marsh on 10-day IL, temporarily solving one problem on the roster
The team announced on Sunday morning that it had placed Marsh on the 10-day injured list with a right hamstring strain. The move is retroactive to April 17 (teams can backdate IL stints up to three days). The corresponding move sees the team recall outfielder Cal Stevenson from Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
Marsh first experienced trouble with his right knee after taking an awkward fall while fielding a nasty bounce in the outfield against the San Francisco Giants on April 16. He hadn’t appeared in any of the Phillies' subsequent games. Originally, Phillies manager Rob Thomson said that they didn’t think the injury would require a trip to the IL, but the issue with his knee obviously affected his hamstring.
Marsh was in the midst of a massive April slump. Struggling to put together any kind of competitive at-bats, he heads to the IL with a .095/.220/.167 slash line with one home run and five RBIs. After picking up four hits on Opening Weekend against the Washington Nationals, he was slumping through an 0-for-31 stretch.
In his stead, Johan Rojas has put together some solid games. He's 5-for-9 in the first two games of the Marlins series and owns a healthy .345/.406/.414 line with four RBIs, five runs scored and three stolen bases in 33 plate appearances this season.
Stevenson, 28, has appeared in 16 games for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, slashing just .192/.328/.288 with five RBIs, 10 runs and seven stolen bases. He played in 18 MLB games with the Phillies in 2024, carrying a .250/.333/.375 line in 27 plate appearances.
We'll have to see how the Phillies plan to deploy the left-handed hitting Stevenson while he's with the big club. Rojas drew the starting assignment on Sunday, even with the Phillies facing Marlins right-hander Connor Gillispie.