Brandon Marsh is back in Los Angeles talking about Shohei Ohtani, and the timing makes the conversation feel bigger than nostalgia. As the Phillies closed out their series against the Dodgers on Sunday, Marsh said his former Angels teammate remains a player he looks up to, even as he has forced his way into an everyday role with a.323 start at the plate.
Marsh and Ohtani spent 1 1/2 seasons together with the Angels, and their friendship grew even with a language barrier between them. Marsh said Ohtani was “kind of like a big brother” who helped him learn how to be a better hitter, and the two became a familiar odd couple in Anaheim when clips of them joking around went viral. Japanese fans and media noticed then, and they have kept noticing every time Marsh comes back to Los Angeles with the Phillies.
That attention has a reason. Marsh entered Sunday hitting.323, the second-highest batting average in baseball, and he had played his way out of the outfield platoon that defined most of his career before this season. His start was strong enough that he became one of the Phillies’ most reliable bats even through their 9-19 start, and it has changed the way he is used under interim manager Don Mattingly.
Marsh said the difference is as much mental as it is mechanical. He said he feels like he is pressing less this year, that he is still learning every day to stay even-keeled, and that he is trying not to focus on the.300 next to his name. “Definitely got to still earn it, and I could lose it in the blink of an eye,” he said, a line that fits a season in which he has gone from a lineup question to a regular fixture.
Still, the role is not locked down in every situation. Mattingly has continued to pinch-hit for Marsh against left-handed relievers late in games, even with Marsh producing like a middle-of-the-order regular. On Saturday, the manager chose Edmundo Sosa over Marsh with the bases loaded against Alex Vesia in a 4-3 Phillies win over the Dodgers, and Sosa struck out before later delivering the go-ahead home run against lefty Tanner Scott.
Mattingly has made clear he believes Marsh’s surge is real. He said that after Marsh’s first month or so last year, he looked like one of the best hitters in the game, and that he has kept that level going. Over his past 169 regular-season games going back to May 2025, Marsh has hit.310 with an.834 OPS, numbers that help explain why the Phillies have started trusting him with more at-bats and why he keeps drawing questions about Ohtani whenever the club plays in Los Angeles.
The bigger test now is whether the everyday role holds when the matchups get sharper and the late innings get tougher. Marsh has earned the right to stay in the lineup, but the Phillies have also shown they are still willing to manage him carefully, which leaves his next turn against a left-handed arm as the clearest measure of how far that trust really goes.
