Regardless of opposing pitching, Brandon Marsh should be an everyday player for the Philadelphia Phillies

If you look back at my first post with the Liberty Line, there was a brief sentence where I mentioned that Brandon Marsh is NOT an everyday player in the eyes of Phillies manager Rob Thomson.

That may have been true at the time, but Marshy has changed my mind on that front, but has still yet to show the Phil’s skipper that he can hit versus left-handed pitching.

In Friday’s lineup against the Colorado Rockies, but specifically LHP Ty Blach, Marsh found himself out of the lineup yet again due to the matchup.

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Despite his early season struggles against lefties, I still believe that Brandon Marsh is an everyday player, and just needs consistent at-bats to get comfortable facing same-side pitching.

Let’s start start with the facts. 

Brandon Marsh Batting Splits
vs RHP
This year:
121 PA | 32 H | 6 HR | 22 RBI | .296 AVG | .873 OPS
Carrer:
1018 PA | 248 H | 26 HR | 127 RBI | .275 AVG | .795 OPS

— Will (@wmjsports) May 24, 2024

Since making his MLB debut in 2021 with the Los Angeles Angels, Marsh has struggled against lefties. His season average against southpaws is down nearly .071 from his career average.

He has just two RBI this season against lefties, and no home runs. Marsh has just five homers and 28 RBI versus left-handed pitching in his career. 

This season, Marsh has faced a lefty in 43 of his 162 at-bats, which is under 27% of his plate appearances. Overall, he has faced a left-handed pitcher just south of 25%.

Now to interject my opinion into all of this. 

Marsh is an everyday player in my eyes, no matter the pitching. I am a firm believer that the only way for him to get better is to consistently face left-handed pitching in a game situation.

Not out of a machine, not from a lefty batting practice arm, but real game heat coming out of the hand of a lefty. 

Don’t get me wrong, .143 is atrocious, even if it comes from same-side pitching. A .214 career batting average against lefties does not make things better, but the Phillies have guys hitting .206 and .223 total (Castellanos and Schwarber, lowest of all players averaging more than 3.1 ABs per game) this season in the starting lineup every day. 

Brandon Marsh's typical replacements vs LHP this season:

Whit Merrifield:
43 AB | 9 H | 2 HR | 2 RBI | .209 AVG | .599 OPS

Christian Pache:
26 AB | 5 H | 0 HR | 3 RBI | .192 AVG | .672 OPS

Both players are right-handed bats.

— Will (@wmjsports) May 24, 2024

Whit Merrifield and Christian Pache have been the two players, primarily Whit, stepping in for Marsh against LHP.

Pache is hitting .192 with 3 RB and 7 walks worked when facing lefties this season.

Merrifield has a batting average of .209, with 9 hits, and 2 homers against left-handed pitching. Both players are right-handed hitters. 

Don’t get me wrong, their starts are respectively better than Brandon Marsh’s against lefties, but it’s not that much better. Not enough to “strategically” pull Marsh from the lineup in favor of one of those two bats. 

Brandon Marsh needs consistent AB’s against LHP

While late-game, clutch situations are an appropriate time for matchup-based substitutions, I do not see a way that Brandon Marsh can improve his stats against lefties if he does not face them.

To me, it should be a priority to get Marsh rolling against southpaws, as he seems to have a contributing role with this franchise for the foreseeable future.

The best way to face competitive game type pitching from a lefty, to not pull him from the lineup every time the team faces one.

This could all implode, and Marsh could become a permanently platooned outfielder, but if I could tell Topper when to make this type of decision, I would tell him to give Marsh a full season to, here is the key phrase, show improvement against lefties. If he cannot show any improvement, then I would say a platoon could be needed. 

Until he is given a fair shot, Brandon Marsh should be given a chance to hit lefties. If it is not for the fact that the best way for Marsh to improve would be to face lefties, then maybe let it happen because his replacements are simply not a whole lot better.

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Mandatory Credit: Photo from Matt Slocum of the Associated Press