Phillies hope to see more production from Brandon Marsh against lefties. But will he get enough chances?

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Brandon Marsh didn’t get traded in the offseason. But his hitting coach wants him to pretend he did.

Because if Marsh and Bryson Stott played for, oh, 15 other teams, Kevin Long feels certain that they would bat near the top of the order. They play for the Phillies, though, so they often blend in behind a half-dozen marquee names, including Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto, and Nick Castellanos.

“My challenge to those guys is, think of it more like you’re the superstar on the team,” Long said the other day. “And they’re not. But if they were with the Marlins or the Pirates or some other teams, guess what? They’d be hitting third and fourth in the lineup. There’s no doubt in my mind. Stott would be hitting at the top of the order; Marsh would be getting at-bats against left-handed pitching.”

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OK, press pause.

The Phillies talked about giving Marsh more at-bats against lefties ever since they traded for him at the deadline in 2022. But manager Rob Thomson hasn’t turned the lefty-hitting outfielder loose as an everyday player. Marsh got only 110 same-side plate appearances in 2023 and 90 last season. He made fewer starts against lefties last year (16, including three times vs. openers) than the year before (18).

And although Marsh has done little to warrant more playing time — batting .213 with a .298 on-base percentage against lefties over the last two seasons is hardly compelling — it can be argued that he hasn’t gotten enough looks to determine for sure that he can’t handle it.

If anything, the topic has grown tiresome.

“I look at [lefties] the same as righties,” Marsh said. “Everyone else looks at it differently.”

But the Phillies sure would love to see Marsh have better at-bats against lefties in spring training. For one thing, they are thin on righty-hitting outfielders to split time with Marsh, even thinner after utilityman Weston Wilson strained a muscle on the left side of his rib cage on a practice swing Friday and won’t be ready for opening day.

Wilson’s injury could strengthen Johan Rojas’ hold on a roster spot as a platoon partner for Marsh in center field. The Phillies also intend to give infielder Edmundo Sosa a longer look in the outfield. And there’s always the possibility of a trade later in spring training.

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Or, you know, Marsh could just elbow his way into the lineup every day by getting a few more hits against lefties. It would help, too, if Thomson let him face more lefties early in the season.

“You could [do that]. We’ll see,” Thomson said. “I’m not going to commit to anything right now.”

The Phillies are trying to get Marsh as many reps as possible against lefties in the spring. They matched him up against reliever Tanner Banks in live batting practice Saturday and also last week. He was in the lineup Sunday against Orioles lefty Cade Povich and grounded out in his first at-bat.

Maybe it will be a prelude to facing lefty MacKenzie Gore, the Nationals’ presumptive opening-day starter, on March 27 in Washington. Or maybe not.

“You get spaced-out at-bats against the best-of-the-best left-handers in this game, the odds are stacked against you pretty heavily,” Marsh said. “Not saying it’s impossible. But it’s very, very difficult. There are numbers that show the more consistent work you get against, say, left-on-left, the numbers tend to rise. Looking forward to that this year.

“I’m sure they have a rough estimate of what the plan is, but you can never really tell until it actually happens. I’m looking forward to getting a lot of reps against some left-handed arms this spring and see where I stack and stand against them.”

In the quest for left-on-left success, Long encouraged Marsh to pick Schwarber’s brain. Schwarber struggled against lefties early in his career but batted .300 against them last season by staying on pitches longer and hitting them the other way to left field.

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Marsh observed that he tends to see more sinkers and sliders from lefties. He adopted Schwarber’s approach midway through last season and began to get better results. He pulled a triple to right field against Mariners lefty Jhonathan Díaz on Aug. 2 in Seattle, the start of a season-ending stretch in which he went 7-for-26 (.269) and slugged .500 against lefties.

“It’s just staying stubborn to the approach,” Marsh said. “I feel like the more I can back the ball up and play to the whole field, it opens you up for a lot of sliders that we’re going to get, a lot of offspeed pitches, breaking balls.”

Marsh has other shortcomings, notably a team-worst 32.4% strikeout rate last season. Long worked with him in Arizona this winter on flattening his bat path to get his barrel to the ball faster and make his swing “not as loopy,” to use the hitting coach’s description.

But Marsh is also 27 now. He was eligible for salary arbitration for the first time this winter and got a raise to $3 million, up from $766,500. He’s close with third baseman Alec Bohm, who emerged as an All-Star last season.

The Phillies are about to find out if Marsh can take the next step in his career and “be the man,” as Long urged him.

“Stott and I have got another year under our belts,” Marsh said. “We know we can contribute and help this team win every night. We’ve just got to get on first base for the big dogs. That’s our big thing, especially being toward the bottom of the lineup with how good of a lineup we have. If I get on first for Kyle, for Trea, for Bryce, that’s a good recipe for success.”

Marsh smiled, like a comedian ready to deliver the punchline.

“Definitely just going to try to do my job,” he said, “and be a lot mo’ better this year.”