The Philadelphia Phillies are in the midst of an early-season slump offensively. Fresh off a series loss versus the St. Louis Cardinals in which they were shut out twice, the Phillies dropped the series opener to the San Francisco Giants before bouncing back with a 6-4 win on Tuesday. It marked the first time in seven games they scored more than four runs.
Many of their regulars had been struggling at the plate, but none more than center fielder Brandon Marsh. Marsh is even out-slumping his buddy Alec Bohm, going hitless in his last 29 at-bats. Marsh has just four hits with 14 strikeouts, giving him an abysmal .100 average with a 30.6 percent strikeout rate.
It's still early, yes, but it's painfully obvious that Marsh still cannot hit left-handed pitching. He can't hit any major-league pitching in general right now, and his at-bats are as uncompetitive as you'll see at the big-league level.
Manager Rob Thomson is giving Marsh a few days off to regroup, per MLB.com's Todd Zolecki. For a team with a championship urgency as high as the Phillies, they cannot afford to give away many at-bats. So where do the Phillies go from here with Marsh?
It would be foolish for the Phillies to give up on Marsh completely by trading him elsewhere. After all, the 27-year-old delivered back-to-back solid campaigns the past two years after being traded for catcher Logan O'Hoppe, who is tearing it up for the Los Angeles Angels. So, if his struggles continue over the coming weeks, the most logical solution would be to send Marsh down to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, as he still has two minor-league options.
Thankfully, the Phillies have a few options down on the farm to take Marsh's roster spot, but who makes the most sense right now? Here are the rankings of the Phillies' most logical replacements in the minors.
Ranking 5 Phillies' internal Brandon Marsh replacements in the minor leagues
No. 5: Cal Stevenson
Cal Stevenson is a familiar name to Phillies fans, after his heroics last year in the "Cal Stevenson Game" assisted the team in winning the National League East. Over 101 games in Triple-A in 2024, Stevenson excelled, with a .302 average and .907 OPS.
Across 24 at-bats with the Phillies, Stevenson slashed .250/.375/.708 for the best season of his very brief MLB career. In May 2023, the Phillies claimed Stevenson off waivers from the San Francisco Giants. He appeared in six games for the Giants in 2023 and a career-high 23 games for the Athletics in 2022.
The surprisingly impressive major-league audition earned Stevenson a new one-year minor-league contract from the Phillies to return to the organization. So far, Stevenson has struggled to recreate the same performance that saw him get selected as the International League player of the month last July. In 39 at-bats, Stevenson has just seven hits for a .179 average. Even worse, he has recorded strikeouts in 16 of those at-bats. He has shown he can contribute at the MLB level, though his lack of experience in the bigs and his slow start make him unlikely to be called up for Marsh.
No 4: Óscar Mercado
The most MLB experience of any player on this list belongs to Óscar Mercado, with 298 career games under his belt and 119 of them in center field. Most of those games came with Cleveland, with 277 games played from 2019-22. The bulk of his action came in 2019, when Mercado shined in 115 games, hitting .269 with 15 home runs and 54 RBIs and even finishing eighth in American League Rookie of the Year voting. It seemed as if Mercado could be a franchise cornerstone in Cleveland until he declined dramatically in 2020. In the shortened season, he hit only .128 with an on-base percentage of .174.
He then was designated for assignment and was actually claimed by the Phillies in 2022, where he had one at-bat. Mercado's last MLB action was with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2023, then he bounced around farm systems from the San Diego Padres to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Detroit Tigers before returning to the Phillies on a minor-league deal. He's hitting .277 so far in Triple-A, though despite his experience, Mercado does not seem likely to potentially replace Marsh.
No. 3: Gabriel Rincones Jr.
Gabriel Rincones Jr. turned a lot of heads in March with his spring training performance. The 2022 third-round draft pick out of Florida Atlantic hit three home runs and was arguably the Phillies' hottest hitter through the first week of Grapefruit League games until he ended the spring with seven strikeouts to five hits and a .217 average. However, it was Rincones' first prolonged taste of action in big league camp, and his power comes naturally.
The lefty-hitting outfielder has impressed with the IronPigs in his first 15 games, hitting .293 with three homers and an OPS of .902. The ball jumps off his bat, as seen in this homer with Lehigh Valley:
Rincones with an absolute missile over the right field wall!#ironpigs #ironpigsbaseball pic.twitter.com/ozPBPdKr1D
— Lehigh Valley IronPigs (@IronPigs) April 11, 2025
Yes, that ball was hit at 112.7 mph and left the yard in about four seconds. The Phillies currently rank 18th in the majors with 17 home runs and could certainly use some easy pop like that. The issue with Rincones is he has played nothing but the corner outfield in his professional career, mostly in right field.
At 24 years old, Rincones may be more major league ready than Justin Crawford, although it's unclear where he would play in the absence of Marsh. Nick Castellanos isn't going anywhere, and he can't platoon with the left-handed hitting Max Kepler.
No. 2: Justin Crawford
Crawford is undoubtedly the player that Phillies fans are most eager to replace Marsh as their center fielder of the future. Drafted 17th overall in 2022, Crawford ranks as MLB Pipeline's No. 60 overall prospect. He has excelled with contact and speed in the minors, hitting .312 with 104 stolen bases in his minor-league career so far. He has played in the MLB Futures Game the last two seasons, as well as the Phillies' 2025 Spring Breakout Game, in which he went 2-for-4 and showcased his speed with a triple.
The Phillies have been greatly impressed with Crawford's development so far, so much so that they promoted him to Triple-A after spring training. In 15 early games for the IronPigs, Crawford is hitting .250 and flashing his Gold-Glove caliber defense that would be a welcome addition to the Phillies' outfield.
Stellar catches, a Crawford family business 💼@Phillies No. 3 prospect Justin Crawford -- son of all-star outfielder Carl Crawford -- slides to take away a knock for the @IronPigs. pic.twitter.com/2krS8lCECo
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) March 30, 2025
With multiple other outfield options, the Phillies have no need to rush their No. 3 prospect to Philadelphia until the time is right. He is only 21 years old, and the Phillies should be hesitant to give him the call until he gets used to Triple-A pitching and develops more power.
No. 1: Weston Wilson
As long as he had a half-decent spring training, Weston Wilson appeared to be a lock to make the Phillies' Opening Day bench. That wouldn't be the case, as Wilson strained his left oblique while doing work in the batting cages right before spring games began, ultimately granting the final bench spot to Kody Clemens. He can play corner positions both in the infield and outfield, although he has played just one inning in center field for the Phillies.
Wilson gets the top spot on this list due to him virtually being a guarantee to make the Opening Day roster after his 2024 performance. In 40 games for the Phillies, Wilson hit an impressive .284 with an .836 OPS, even hitting for the cycle on Aug. 15 against the Washington Nationals. Wilson is moving his rehab assignment to Triple-A beginning Tuesday. The expectation is he'll serve all 20 days of his rehab stint, making him available to come off the IL on April 28.
The expectation is Wilson will then rejoin the Phillies, thus sending Kody Clemens through waivers, since he's hardly played with only two at-bats. If Marsh's nightmare start continues, and it's his roster spot that Wilson takes, the likely scenario would be that Wilson sees a lot of playing time in left field with Kepler and Johan Rojas splitting time in center.