Only time will tell if last August’s trade for Brandon Marsh was a good one for the Phillies. From a fit perspective, it made all the sense in the world. The Phillies acquired Marsh, a top-end defensive center fielder, in exchange for Logan O’Hoppe, their top position player prospect who would be blocked by J.T. Realmuto through the end of his contract in 2025.

On the contrary, though, the sheer talent the Phillies gave up for a player who, at the time of the trade, was 18 percent worse than the league average hitter across his first 583 plate appearances raised concerns across the fanbase.

Early returns were promising. In the same way Hitting Coach Keving Long improved Alec Bohm’s swing, Marsh posted a .773 OPS (116 OPS+) in 41 regular season games with the Phillies. Mix that with the defense he provided, and you could jump to the conclusion that Marsh looks like the long-term fit in center, with five years of team control remaining.

The problem is, Marsh hasn’t show that he can hit lefties at all. Only 17% of Marsh’s post-trade plate appearances were against southpaws, and in that small sample size, he struggled. He slashed an unplayable .174/.219/.217 in 23 plate appearances, which is pretty close to the .192/.241/.274 he posted with the Angels in 82 plate appearances against lefties.

Complicating matters even more is Marsh’s inability to consistently put the ball in play. A career strikeout rate of 34.5% puts him in the bottom one percent of major league hitters. A team looking to for back-to-back World Series appearances won’t be able to withstand that kind of performance over a full season.

The front office will need to figure something out if they want passable, bottom-of-the-order at-bats from center field. Last year’s solution was shipped to Detroit to acquire flamethrowing reliever Gregory Soto. Here are the options they’ll consider against left-handed pitchers in 2023.

Edmundo Sosa

Another trade deadline pickup last year by President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski, Edmundo Sosa burst on the scene as a contributive role player. Across 419 innings at shortstop and third base in 2022, Sosa posted positive defensive runs saved marks at both positions. He finished with 10 outs above average, tied for twentieth among all qualified fielders in MLB, despite having played a fraction of the innings of most of the league’s leaders.

Sosa supplemented elite defense with lefty/righty splits reminiscent of Marsh’s, but flipped. His OPS against lefties was a fantastic 1.261, but he managed just a .504 OPS against right-handers. Both of those numbers, particularly the OPS against lefties, will move towards the middle with a larger sample size. Even with the expected regression, though, Sosa seems more than playable against lefties.

An unsustainably hot spring has only risen Sosa’s stock among the fanbase. On a lot of teams, Sosa would be an everyday middle infielder, but the combination of Trea Turner and Bryson Stott leaves no opening.

In comes the center field gig. Sosa has only logged one third of an MLB inning in center. He’s been given playing time there this spring, but obviously a tiny sample size while a player is learning the position can’t be used reliably.

The most recent, unfortunate development here is that Rhys Hoskins’ ACL tear will probably open up time for Sosa on the infield. With Darick Hall as the heir apparent to the first base job, the Phillies may shuffle Bohm in favor of Hall against lefties, given Hall’s struggles against southpaws throughout his professional career. That leaves third base open for Sosa.

With playing time open to Sosa at more familiar positions and no guarantee his glove translates to the outfield, I’m not sure this is the solution they’ll use.

Scott Kingery

Phillies fans know Scott Kingery’s story. A red hot 2017 season in the minors resulted in the Klentak regime rewarding him with a six-year contract with three years of club options. It hasn’t worked out, to put it kindly.

Kingery hasn’t been featured as a Phillies regular since 2019. From 2020-2022, he’s put together a .454 OPS (78 percent worse than a league average hitter) that has declined each season. His defensive numbers haven’t been good, or even average, either.

Any hope of Kingery contributing to the Phillies seemed to have been buried by now, but his experience in the outfield (over 500 career innings in center) and the fact that he’s a right-handed bat have presented with an opportunity.

His .889 OPS this spring could be interpreted as a good sign, if it weren’t for previous strong showings in Clearwater being followed by subpar regular season play. It’s now or never for Kingery, though, and the Phillies have a need. If the roster shakes out in a way that he fits, there’s a chance Kingery gets a shot to earn playing time against lefties.

Dalton Guthrie

Dalton Guthrie was a pleasant surprise in his Phillies cameo at the end of 2022. His .333/.500/.476 slash is well beyond what could be expected of him with consistent playing time. A right-handed hitter, Guthrie could be protected against having to face pitchers of the same handedness, and his sprint speed ranked in the eighty-seventh percentile of major leaguers.

Guthrie’s offensive stats in the minors leave a little to be desired as a whole, but they have improved over the past couple years. His defense, on the other hand, has always been solid.

In all likelihood, Guthrie won’t be a starter for the Phillies at any point, but his track record warrants consideration in a platoon. Worst case scenario, it doesn’t work out, and he’s optioned back to the minors. He’s had a rough spring, but I’d like to see Guthrie given a chance to build upon a fruitful 2022.

Brandon Marsh

We’re finishing where we started.

O’Hoppe looks like the real deal for the Angels, and this isn’t a surprise to the Phillies. Initially a glove-first catcher, O’Hoppe learned to swing the bat in the minors and now looks like a healthy bet to become a well-rounded catcher with all-star potential.

If the Phillies saw Marsh’s ceiling as being half of a platoon, they wouldn’t have swapped him for O’Hoppe.

For all the reasons at the beginning of this article, it’s far from a foregone conclusion that he’ll become an everyday player. The organization won’t know for sure, though, unless they give him a chance to prove it on a regular basis.

With title hopes on the line, they may be hesitant to kick Marsh out of the nest on day one, but in the long term, it may benefit them to try it sooner rather than later. I’m of the opinion that it’s worth trying. If Marsh’s talent prevents him from becoming the player Phillies fans hope for, that would be disappointing. But it’s another thing altogether if he’s never given the chance. I don’t think it has to be right out of the gate, especially if they want to give Long more time to work on his approach, but at some point this season, Marsh needs a chance to learn to hit lefties in games.

The verdict

Sosa has a more logical fit elsewhere, and Kingery hasn’t earned another chance. I’d prefer to see the Phillies start the season with Guthrie on the roster, starting against lefties, although this doesn’t feel likely.

If it sticks, it sticks. If not, let Marsh try to claim the center field job full-time.

Every internal solution comes with risk, however. The odds of any given proposed solution becoming a productive part of the team’s 2023 season is a bit of a long shot. The overwhelming likelihood is that they’ll mix and match until something works, or they’ll look outside the organization for an answer.