SAN DIEGO -- Brandon Marsh was not in Wednesday's lineup after departing Tuesday night's 4-3 win over the Padres due to a right middle finger sprain.
The Phillies, however, are confident that Marsh will be ready to return for Friday's series opener against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. Interim manager Don Mattingly said Marsh could have potentially played on Wednesday, but with Thursday's off-day, it made more sense to give him two days off instead of risking further injury.
Edmundo Sosa started in place of Marsh in left field on Wednesday, batting ninth.
Marsh sustained the injury while diving back into first base on a pickoff play to end the first inning on Tuesday night. He was wearing a sliding mitt only on his left hand, which would typically be the hand he leads with while sliding into a base -- but not back toward a base.
Expect that to change once he’s back in the lineup.
“I’m gonna go double now,” Marsh said. “That's the plan. … Probably ride with double until the end of the season.”
Marsh stayed in the game initially, 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 offensively, took over for Marsh in right field.
"I kind of felt it more throwing [than swinging]; not like terrible,” Marsh said. “But the way I was thinking about it is we’ve got the best defensive right fielder in the game, we're up 4-0, so try to minimize [making it worse] and try to get ready to go for tomorrow or the first game in L.A.”
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 Sosa to left field after abandoning that experiment last season. Sosa made his fifth start of the season in left on Wednesday afternoon. 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:
- García: .204/.291/.317 (.608 OPS)
- Sosa: .212/.244/.318 (.562 OPS)
- Crawford: .229/.297/.338 (.635 OPS)
- Kemp: .080/.148/.080 (.228 OPS)
- Reyes: .158/.158/.263 (.421 OPS)
- Stubbs: .235/.333/.235 (.568 OPS)
Put that all together, and it’s a combined .205/.271/.305 slash line (.576 OPS) slash line. But now let’s look at what might happen if Marsh were to ultimately end up missing any time.
García would start in right field, and Crawford would presumably start every day in center. 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 .182/.222/.261 slash line (.483 OPS) over 177 plate appearances this season.
But the Phillies are confident Marsh will be ready sooner than later.
"We'll be fine,” Mattingly said. “This is not going to be a long-term thing. It’s going to be a day-to-day thing, so we can navigate short term. If we had to do something long term. It's different.”