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The Phillies Should Put an End to Their Outfield Platoon

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The Philadelphia Phillies should put an end to the current platoon system they have going in the outfield. Currently, Brandon Marsh does not play a majority of the time when the Phillies are facing a left-handed pitcher. Last season, Cristian Pache made starts against left-handed pitchers in place of Marsh. This season, Whit Merrifield has taken over that role. How well Johan Rojas does at the plate will also have an impact. While the Phillies intend to stick with Rojas if the struggles at the plate continue, changes will need to be made. In that scenario, Merrifield takes over in left field with Marsh moving to center field. Pache would also continue to play in left field or center field as needed. It is also possible that Pache will take over for Rojas in the starting lineup in that scenario.

Phillies Should End Their Outfield Platoon

Games against the Atlanta Braves on Saturday and Sunday saw Marsh not start because of the platoon. In those games, the Braves started Max Fried and Chris Sale on the mound. It is worth noting that the Sunday game did see Marsh enter as a pinch hitter. Meanwhile, Marsh did get a start against the Cincinnati Reds on Monday, when Andrew Abbott was pitching. Both Pache and Merrifield have made starts filling in for other players so far this season as well.

Phillies manager Rob Thomson has previously stated that he believes Marsh will eventually become an everyday player. However, it is important to note that Marsh did have knee surgery in February. It is smart to ease him into the lineup at the moment. Once everyone gets into a rhythm, the Phillies left field platoon should end, with Marsh becoming an everyday player.

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Another possibility is keeping Marsh in the lineup while having him be the designated hitter every once in a while for the first month of the season. While this would mean putting Kyle Schwarber in left field once a week. It would allow Marsh to have mini-rest days while keeping his bat in the lineup. Regardless of the platoon in left field, Schwarber will probably end up playing in the field a few times this season. However, he will still be the designated hitter for almost every game this season.

Platooning Marsh Not Working Out

One of the reasons the Phillies currently do this platoon is because they feel Marsh does not hit well enough against left-handed pitchers. Last season, he had a .229/.321/.396 line with three home runs and 16 RBI against southpaws. For comparison, Marsh had a .292/.387/.477 line with nine home runs and 44 RBI against right-handed pitchers in 2023. To add to this, Marsh had a 96 wRC+ against lefties last season compared to a 134 wRC+ against right-handers.

Analyst Ryan Spaeder noted that Marsh had a .285/.362/.476 line with 17 home runs and 75 RBI in the previous 162 games he has played in before Wednesday. In addition, Spaeder mentioned that Marsh has a better OPS in that span than Adley Rutschman, Randy Arozarena, Bobby Witt Jr., and Julio Rodríguez, among other superstar players.

Another reason why the Phillies should stop this platoon is because of how good Marsh is defensively in left field compared to Merrifield. In left field, Marsh has eight career defensive runs saved. Meanwhile, Merrifield has a negative two career defensive runs saved total in left field. Overall across all three outfield positions, Marsh has three defensive runs saved. For comparison, Merrifield has -10 defensive runs saved across all three outfield positions.

It is also worth noting that Merrifield has a .991 fielding percentage in the outfield, compared to Marsh who has a .987 fielding percentage in the outfield. In terms of left field defense, fielding percentage favors Merrifield while fielding metrics favor Marsh. Merrifield does bring important defensive versatility to the team, but he should not be platooning with Marsh in left field.

 

Photo Credit: © Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

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