PHILADELPHIA — When Brandon Marsh jogged back to left field at Citizens Bank Park in the second inning of this past Monday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, he wasn’t just met with applause for his home run the inning before.
Fans greeted him with a vinyl banner reading “Marsh To The Polls,” with several supporters sporting beards to match his own.
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It marked the official start of the Phillies‘ final campaign push to send Marsh to the Midsummer Classic at The Bank on July 14, something he told USA TODAY Sports before the game he wasn’t letting himself think too much about.
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That doesn’t mean the All‑Star Game isn’t on his mind.
“I’d be lying if I said I haven’t thought about the All-Star Game,” Marsh said. “But I try my best not to and enjoy the present.”
Marsh’s rise from a platoon outfielder to one of the Phillies’ most consistent bats is one of this season’s great storylines.
He opened the year hitting .295 in April — a far cry from the .095 he posted through his first 17 games last season — and strung together a 13‑game hit streak from April 28 to May 12. He followed his strong month of April with a .333 average in May. That dipped only slightly to .315 in June.
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Factor in that he’s tracking toward his first All‑Star nod, and the arc becomes even more impressive.
“It’s been a different season for sure, having to adjust with the body and having to adjust with playing every day,” Marsh said. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. Just enjoying the ride.”
To reach this point — where he’s sitting among MLB’s top 10 leaders in batting average — Marsh has ridden out his share of turbulence. Dealt from the Los Angeles Angels at the 2022 trade deadline for top catching prospect Logan O’Hoppe, Marsh was seen as an everyday outfielder for both the present and the future. But he sat against lefties to lose starting opportunities and has mustered only two total hits across the last two postseasons, so the potential never fully materialized until now.
His path, once that of the Angels’ former No. 1 prospect, simply developed on a slower burn. It took time, and now the moment has arrived. Inside the Phillies clubhouse, his 2026 breakout hasn’t surprised anyone.
“He’s always been a good player,” Phillies shortstop Trea Turner told USA TODAY Sports in May. “… Other people are starting to recognize him and deserve to do so.”
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Marsh said his breakout season stems more from a different approach and finding consistency, both with his pregame routine and playing time, than from any physical changes he made in the offseason.
To build his pregame consistency as an everyday player, Marsh has zeroed in on how veterans like Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and Turner attack their work and how “stubborn” they are about sticking to their routines. He also mentioned he’s trying to keep his own routine simple, hoping that simplicity creates steady production.
“May not be true, but if you think that way, I feel like it’ll help,” Marsh said.
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Marsh finally got that consistent, everyday run when Don Mattingly took over as interim manager on April 28 after the Phillies’ 9-19 start under Rob Thomson. Since then, he’s hit .329, forcing Mattingly’s hand by penciling his name into the lineup every day, including some games at cleanup.
“It’s definitely helped just with staying in the flow of the game” Marsh said of the consistency he’s received from Mattingly. “Because pinch hitting is one of the hardest things to do in this game. It’s harder than playing every single day. … So there’s something to the consistency that Donnie’s been giving me and I’m super thankful.”
Mattingly said he’s always believed Marsh had a good swing, and even conceded after the Phillies’ April 30 win over the Giants that when he was the manager of the Miami Marlins, the Marlins tried multiple times to trade for Marsh.
“He’s always been, for me, a good hitter. Been able to see this guy really young and probably just building confidence over time,” Mattingly said in May when asked by USA TODAY Sports what he’s seen from Marsh. “Better game planner now (too), it sounds like. Knows what he wants to do with every guy (he’s facing).”
One contributing reason to Marsh’s platoon role under Thomson was his inability to hit against left-handed pitching. He’d either come off the bench as a defensive change late in the game once the opposing team’s left-handed starter was removed, or not play at all.
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Last season, Marsh hit .197 against left-handed pitching. He’s hitting .259 against southpaws this season.
“You always knew he had it just by looking at his numbers based off right-handed pitching,” Phillies second baseman Bryson Stott said. “Now he’s getting his chance and probably one of the best hitters in the league. It’s been really fun to watch him.”
In just the last week, Marsh has delivered in big moments. In the Phillies’ dramatic 14-9 come-from-behind win over the Washington Nationals on June 23, Marsh crushed a game-tying, two-run home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Through the Phillies’ first 88 games, Marsh leads the team with a .315 batting average and 97 hits while he’s third in home runs, only trailing Schwarber and Harper, who have combined for 50 home runs themselves.
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Marsh’s .315 batting average is good for the seventh-best among MLB hitters. He’s already surpassed his RBI total from last season, as he has driven in 46 runs thus far in the first half.
“He’s always asking questions, always wanting to get better. He’s putting it together,” Harper said to USA TODAY Sports in May. “But he’s also taking his hits, (which) I think that’s huge also. He hits the ball both ways from left-center to right-center.”
Former Phillies shortstop and manager Larry Bowa believes a big part of Marsh’s success at the plate comes from not being as hard on himself as he used to be.
“Sometimes he used to worry about his previous at bat, what he did or didn’t do. He’s finding a way now, whether you get a hit or whether you make an out, it’s a different at bat,” Bowa told USA TODAY Sports. “Once you get into that mindset, the game’s never going to be easy, but you can relax a little bit.”
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Marsh agreed with Bowa and pushed it further. He said he’s made it a point this season not to sulk or dwell on past at‑bats, something that he’s struggled with in the past, especially once he came up to The Show after his success in the minors in the Angels’ organization.
“Learning how to honestly laugh at yourself a little bit without making a fool out of yourself,” Marsh said. “But (also) don’t be so hard on yourself because it’s already such a hard thing. It’s a game of almost impossible odds stacked against you as a hitter … Just have to know you’re going to fail.”
He goes into the Phillies’ upcoming nine-game road trip to close out the first half of the season with 18 hits and 12 RBIs in his last 15 games to go along with six home runs, three of which came in the Pirates series.
For all the success at the plate this season thus far, Marsh said it’s made him appreciate the work that it took to get here “a lot more.”
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“It makes me respect the guys that show up and step in the box or toe the rubber every single day. I now know how physically taxing it can be, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. I love everything that comes with it,” Marsh said.
Marsh ranked third among NL outfielders in Phase 1 of All‑Star voting with 668,191 votes, trailing only the Dodgers’ Andy Pages (800,496) and the Braves’ Ronald Acuña Jr. (693,472).
He’ll find out Saturday whether he’s been elected a starter for Dave Roberts’ NL squad. Starter or not, Marsh has more than earned the right to be considered for the Midsummer Classic, even if he’s too modest to say so himself.
“As a kid growing up, it’s what everyone wants to be a part of, other than winning a World Series. Getting an All Star nod is pretty freakin cool,” Marsh said. “Hopefully this year I get to check it off of a bucket list. … It would mean the world, especially here in Philly playing for Philly.
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“I’m getting chills right now thinking about it.”
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: From platoon to starter: How Brandon Marsh is having All-Star season with Phillies
