PHILADELPHIA — It’s been 21 days since Brandon Marsh last collected a hit, and the Philadelphia Phillies will use a slight hamstring injury as a way to reset their starting center fielder’s season.
The club placed Marsh on the injured list Sunday morning, backdating it to April 17. Marsh can be activated as early as April 27. But the Phillies plan to send him to Triple-A Lehigh Valley for some at-bats as he confronts the worst slump of his career.
This is the first transaction the Phillies have made this season. They went 21 games without shuffling players on or off the roster.
Marsh is hitless in his last 31 at-bats. He is 4-for-42 on the season with one extra-base hit and 16 strikeouts. He injured his right knee on April 16 when he entered as a defensive replacement in center field and had to make an uncomfortable lunge at a ball that took a weird hop on the outfield grass.
“As mild as it can be,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said about the hamstring.
Marsh had been available in an emergency capacity in recent days. He is not yet running at 100 percent. “He wasn’t getting worse,” Thomson said. “He just wasn’t improving.” Marsh will accompany the team to New York this week and continue doing agility drills. Then, he’ll go to the minors for an undetermined period.
In his absence, Johan Rojas is the center fielder. The Phillies recalled Cal Stevenson from Triple A to replace Marsh. But Rojas, who entered Sunday with a .345/.406/.414 line in 33 plate appearances, has done enough to merit regular time. The Phillies have asked Rojas to shorten his swing, and he’s hit the ball hard this month.
“He struck out three times the other night,” Thomson said. “It’s going to happen. But he’s making contact. He’s bunting at the right time. He’s using the entire field. He’s playing well.”
(Photo: Tim Vizer / Imagn Images)