Phillies sit struggling Brandon Marsh vs. Giants: ‘It’s time just to relax for a minute’

Before almost every home game, the first Phillie on the field for batting practice is usually Nick Castellanos.

Typically, he goes through his routine by himself. But on Monday ahead of the series opener against the San Francisco Giants, he was joined by three teammates for some early hitting: Brandon Marsh, Alec Bohm, and Max Kepler.

All three are currently mired in slumps. After a hot first few games of the season, Kepler has cooled off to a .200 batting average and .311 slugging percentage. Despite a 51.1% hard-hit rate, Bohm is hitting just .150. And Marsh is hitless in 24 at-bats in April.

» READ MORE: Brandon Marsh on his 4-for-37 start for the Phillies: ‘I’m letting my guys down’

While Phillies manager Rob Thomson has continued to roll Bohm out every day throughout his slump — apart from one scheduled day off last week — Marsh was out of the starting lineup on Monday, and could be on the bench for a while.

“I just read the emotional state of the player, and I think he’s really thinking about it, and he really feels like he’s letting his teammates down,” Thomson said. “He’s putting a lot of pressure on himself to do well. And when you get to that point, I think it’s time just to relax for a minute.”

After an 0-for-3 performance on Sunday in St. Louis, Marsh said as much.

“I just feel like I’m letting my guys down, and I need to be better for them,” he said.

While Thomson said Marsh is “available” in late-game situations, since the Giants only have one lefty arm in the bullpen, it’s likely that he will be out of the starting lineup for as many as three games. Thomson wants to give Marsh two days off, and the Phillies are scheduled to face the Giants’ only lefty, Robbie Ray, on Wednesday.

“Just to give him a blow. A mental, physical blow,” Thomson said. “He’s thinking about it quite a bit right now. Everybody goes through it at some point. I just thought I’d maybe give him a day or two off and just let him watch for a minute.”

Even so, Thomson is keeping everything in perspective. The Phillies have only played 15 games, which is only 9.3% of the season. Entering Monday, Bohm has 60 at-bats, while Marsh has just 37.

» READ MORE: Phillies’ Alec Bohm addresses early-season slump: ‘The game’s trying to teach me a lesson’

“I think you got to get to 100 at-bats for sure, maybe close to 150 before you really think about doing something drastic,” Thomson said. “So we got a lot of time.”

While their low averages through the first 15 games have put both Bohm and Marsh under the microscope, they’re not the only players struggling at the plate lately.

The Phillies were shut out twice by the Cardinals over the weekend. Their ground ball rate has shot up to 44.4%, higher than league average of 43.6%.

“I think they’re just trying to do too much,” Thomson said. “They have to get back to doing what we were doing early in the year, getting good pitches to hit and controlling the strike zone and using the entire field.”

Weston Wilson (oblique) is scheduled to play second base Tuesday on a rehab assignment with triple-A Lehigh Valley. Wilson will play all nine innings. He is 1-for-10 in his first four rehab games at single-A Clearwater. … Ranger Suárez (low back) will make his next rehab start for Clearwater on Wednesday, and will pitch four innings and/or 55 pitches. … Bryson Stott led off on Monday against Giants right-hander Landen Roupp. Kyle Schwarber hit fourth to offer some protection for Bryce Harper hitting third. … Jesús Luzardo (2-0, 1.50 ERA) is scheduled to start Tuesday against Giants right-hander Justin Verlander (0-0, 6.92 ERA).