If you hear 162 games and think it’s a long season — you’d be right, because it is.
It’s still very early in the Phillies’ 2025 campaign but Rob Thomson isn’t wasting time tinkering with the lineup to find something that works.
We’ve seen three different leadoff hitters for various reasons: Trea Turner against a left-handed pitcher, Kyle Schwarber against a righty and Bryson Stott to protect Bryce Harper.
He’s flipped Nick Castellanos and Alec Bohm in the order — a way to acknowledge Castellanos’ early success while allowing Bohm to work through his current struggles.
And now, after the club’s 2-4 road trip and going 0-for-14 during that stretch, Thomson made the call to sit Brandon Marsh in Monday’s series-opener against the Giants — for reasons outside of the opposing starting pitcher. Here’s what Monday’s lineup looks like:
Bryson Stott (L), 2B
Trea Turner, SS
Bryce Harper (L), 1B
Kyle Schwarber (L), DH
Nick Castellanos, RF
J.T. Realmuto, C
Max Kepler (L), LF
Alec Bohm, 3B
Johan Rojas, CF
Marsh hasn’t hit since the season-opening series in Washington and his average is down to a team-low .108.
“He’s thinking about it quite a bit right now and everybody goes through it at some point,” Thomson said Monday. “I just thought maybe give him a day or two off and just let him watch for a minute. …
“I think he’s really thinking about (his lack of offense). He really feels like he’s letting his teammates down. He’s putting a lot of pressure on himself to do well. When you get to that point I think it’s time just to relax for a minute.”
The two days may turn to three, given the Giants’ rotation for the series. They’ll face lefty Robbie Ray Wednesday, who is currently 3-0 with a 2.93 ERA. More notably, he’s only allowed two hits to left-handed hitters.
Marsh is available off the bench for this next stretch but it seems highly unlikely he’ll be used outside of an emergency situation.
“The game is very, very tough,” Marsh said Monday. “It’ll bring you down, break you down and bring you up when you least expect it. Just got to keep a positive mindset and really just keep your head in the work.
When reporters began filtering into the dugout for Thomson’s pregame availability, Marsh was already in the cage taking an early batting practice.
“I’m usually not out here this early for hitting,” Marsh said. “Not being in the lineup today, I wanted to take advantage of my time and get the body right. … Just clearing the mind and going out there and playing ball.”
The current slump certainly isn’t for lack of effort.
Marsh isn’t the only concern offensively for the Phillies, though. The club was shutout twice in the weekend series against the Cardinals and they haven’t hit a home run since Thursday’s series finale against the Braves.
“I think they’re just trying to do too much,” Thomson said. “If you look at our ground ball rate as of late, it’s probably gone way up, especially on the pull side. They have to get back to doing what we were doing earlier in the year and getting good pitches to hit and controlling the strike zone and using the entire field.”
They’ll look to get back on track during their seven-game homestand.
