SAN DIEGO -- The Phillies’ already thin outfield took a potential hit on Tuesday night when Brandon Marsh departed the club’s game against the Padres due to a right middle finger sprain.
The club said Marsh is undergoing further evaluation.
Marsh appeared to sustain the injury while diving back into first base on a pickoff play to end the first inning. He stayed in the game, even collecting his second hit of the night in the top of the third before exiting in the middle of the fourth.
Adolis García, who had a day off amid a tough stretch, took over for Marsh in right field.
With his 2-for-2 night, Marsh raised his season average to .326 -- second best in the Majors, trailing only Miami’s Otto Lopez (.330). It’s been a breakout season for Marsh, who’s gone from a platoon player for much of the past few seasons to arguably the Phillies’ most consistent hitter outside of Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper.
The Phillies can ill afford to lose Marsh, who has started 21 of the club’s past 22 games. The only other natural outfielders on the roster are García in right and Justin Crawford in center.
Philadelphia began the season using infielder-turned-outfielder Otto Kemp as Marsh’s platoon mate in left. Following a slow start, Kemp was optioned in favor of Felix Reyes, who similarly struggled before again switching places with Kemp.
The Phillies have also reintroduced Edmundo Sosa to left field after abandoning that experiment last season. Sosa made his fourth start of the season in left on Tuesday night. The only other option on the roster is Garrett Stubbs, who has assumed a utility role that included making his first -- and so far only -- start in left field on May 2.
Regardless of who the Phillies put out there, though, they have received very little offensive production from any outfielders besides Marsh.
Here’s a look at how each of those six players who can play the outfield have fared this season (all stats entering Tuesday):
- García: .205/.289/.319 (.608 OPS)
- Sosa: .222/.256/.333 (.589 OPS)
- Crawford: .235/.304/.346 (.650 OPS)
- Kemp: .080/.148/.080 (.228 OPS)
- Reyes: .158/.158/.263 (.421 OPS)
- Stubbs: .235/.333/.235 (.569 OPS)
Put that all together, and it’s a combined .208/.274/.311 (.585 OPS) slash line. But now let’s look at what might happen if Marsh were to miss any time.
García would start in right field, and Crawford would presumably start every day in center field. That leaves some combination of Sosa, Kemp, Reyes and Stubbs to soak up the reps in left field. (Unless, of course, the Phillies decide to give Schwarber more run in left, where he’s made two starts this season.)
Looking only at that quartet of Sosa, Kemp, Reyes and Stubbs, they’ve combined for a .186/.227/.267 slash line (.494 OPS) over 173 plate appearances this season.