Phillies May Have Just Solved Their Brandon Marsh Problem

By now, you know the story with Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Brandon Marsh.

He got off to a scintillating start in 2026 and was so good that he made the All-Star team for the first time in his career. Then, during the second half, he was legitimately one of the worst players in baseball.

What exactly happened?

Well, now, we might have an idea of why Marsh looked like he forgot how to play baseball from mid-July on.

It was just revealed that Marsh underwent carpal box excision surgery on his left wrist back on Oct. 14, which means that the 28-year-old had an outgrowth smoothed out.

The issue had apparently been plaguing Marsh since Spring Training last year, and while he obviously experienced no issues early on, it flared up afterward.

Marsh is expected to make a full recovery from surgery within three weeks and has already begun cardio workouts, so he should be just fine.

It also means that the Phillies almost certainly won't be trading Marsh this offseason. That is, of course, unless another team comes along and makes an offer Philadelphia can't refuse.

Marsh has been a dependable all-around player for Philly ever since arriving from the Los Angeles Angels midway through the 2022 campaign.

Through parts of five seasons with the Phillies, Marsh has slashed .267/.334/.432 while playing generally solid outfield defense. His best showing came in 2023, when he posted an .829 OPS over 472 plate appearances.

Marsh has not quite reached that level of production since, but he did record a .785 OPS in 2025 and was on track for his best season ever in 2026 before falling off a cliff after the All-Star break.

The former second-round pick ended up slashing .260/.304/.408 this past season, establishing career highs in both home runs (18) and RBI (62).

Dave Dombrowski has made it clear that he doesn't view Marsh as a full-time player due to his struggles against lefties (lifetime .588 OPS), but he seems to be leaning toward keeping Marsh on the roster next spring.

The Phillies could always find a platoon candidate — such as Randal Grichuk, for example — to help compensate for Marsh's deficiencies.

And now that we know Marsh's second-half falloff was likely due to complications from the wrist injury, we can probably anticipate a much better year from him in 2027.

We'll see how Philadelphia addresses its outfield in the meantime.