![\"Brandon](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Brandon-Marsh-Max-Kepler-Injured-Phillies.jpg\")
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The Philadelphia Phillies<\/a>, as they have been the last few seasons, are positioning themselves early in the season to be one of the top contenders in the National League. After a rough first series against the Texas Rangers<\/a>, the Phillies have been 5-2 since.<\/p>\n On offense, the Phillies are home to high-priced bats like Kyle Schwarber<\/a>, Bryce Harper<\/a>, Trea Turner<\/a>, and JT Realmuto<\/a>, but on the 2026 team, a surprising name has been a steady, reliable hand offensively.<\/p>\n Brandon Marsh<\/a>, the Phillies\u2019 left fielder, is second on the Phillies in batting average this season at .275 after Wednesday\u2019s game against the San Francisco Giants<\/a>, and has hit in 10 of his first 11 games. Marsh\u2019s offensive outburst isn\u2019t just a flash in the pan either.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sustained Success\u00a0<\/p>\n In April of 2025, Brandon Marsh hit rock bottom in his tenure as a Phillie. His 0-for-29 stretch was the worst of his career. His time as a starting outfielder appeared to be coming to an end, as well as his time in Philadelphia. However, since May 2025, Marsh has shown why the Phillies believed he could develop into an everyday outfielder when they traded for him from the Los Angeles Angels<\/a> in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tim Kelly of On Pattison<\/a>, in his April 3 article, wrote about Marsh\u2019s All-Star-like performance against right-handed pitching after his horrid April.<\/p>\n \u201cA year ago, Marsh overcame a miserable start to hit .300 with nine home runs, 24 doubles and an .838 OPS in 337 plate appearances against right-handed pitchers,\u201d Kelly wrote. \u201cObviously, you don\u2019t vote on All-Stars based on how they fare in certain platoon splits, but the version of Marsh the Phillies got a year ago against right-handed pitching is an All-Star level offensive performer.\u201d<\/p>\n Marsh has now showcased his growth at the plate for close to a full season. And in the field, Marsh is by far the best option for the Phillies in left field, with 19 defensive runs saved and nine outs above average in 1,791.2 career innings in left field according to FanGraphs<\/a>.<\/p>\n Part of Marsh\u2019s turnaround is borrowing an approach from a teammate.<\/p>\n Schwarber Approach<\/p>\n Brandon Marsh has been one of the few bright spots in the Phillies\u2019 lineup this season, and his turnaround at the plate from May of last season to this year can be attributed to a change in his approach.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lochlahn March, in her April 5 article for the Philadelphia Inquirer<\/a>, wrote about how Marsh has changed his approach at the plate and how it more closely mirrors teammate Kyle Schwarber\u2019s. Phillies manager Rob Thomson discussed the adjustments Marsh has made.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s sort of taken the [Kyle] Schwarber approach,\u201d Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. \u201cWhen Schwarb is going good. Thinking left-center a little bit more keeps him on the ball, gets the ball up in the air a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n Marsh has recorded a hit in nearly every game he\u2019s played in to start the season, and Thomson believes Marsh\u2019s mindset is a significant reason why.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s necessarily he wanted to pull [before],\u201d Thomson said. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think he really had an idea of, \u2018OK, this is my focus, and this is where I\u2019m going to stay. And if I get the ball out front, I\u2019m going to hit it in the air to the pull-side. And if I hit the ball deep, then I\u2019m going to hit a line drive the other way.\u2019 I think it\u2019s more of just a mindset than anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n The Phillies\u2019 offense has been inconsistent to start the season, but now, over the course of a year, Marsh has shown the Phillies can at least rely on him at the plate.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tChad Gelfand<\/a> Chad Gelfand is a journalist covering the NFL with focus on the Baltimore Ravens, Seattle Seahawks, and Carolina Panthers for Heavy.com. Gelfand has over six years of writing experience.
\n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Phillies\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Philadelphia Phillies, as they have been the last few seasons, are positioning themselves early in the season…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2397],"tags":[5,4,144,25,4216,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-672647","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-phillies","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-philadelphia","11":"tag-philadelphia-phillies","12":"tag-philadelphiaphillies","13":"tag-phillies"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116381831826533920","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nGelfand previously covered the Philadelphia Eagles for Last Word On Sports. He also has experience writing in the worlds of entertainment and wrestling.
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\nGelfand was an Entertainment writer for the List.com, and a contributor for Fansided’s wrestling website Daily DDT and The Wrestling Estate. Gelfand has also appeared multiple times as a guest on POST Wrestling’s “Bushby and Thompson’s Wrestling Adventure” podcast. More about Chad Gelfand<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n