Brandon Marsh chugged a beer with ease to applause at Wells Fargo Center Tuesday night when he, Dalton Guthrie and Rob Thomson were shown on the scoreboard during a Philadelphia Flyers victory over the Anaheim Ducks.
It’s been less than six months since the Phillies acquired Marsh from the Los Angeles Angels in an attempt to find stability at the center field position for the first time in a decade.
The early returns on Dave Dombrowski’s bold trade for Marsh are strong. Make no mistake, the Phillies gave up a potential impact catcher in Logan O’Hoppe to acquire a controllable center fielder. But what they got in return is a player who is an excellent defender and posted a .773 OPS in 41 regular season games after being traded to the Phillies. When you consider the lucrative deals that Brandon Nimmo and Cody Bellinger signed this offseason, the trade for Marsh — who can’t become a free agent until after the 2027 season — looks increasingly impressive.
Marsh’s rise from a former prospect that was struggling and blocked from playing center field by Mike Trout as an Angel to a fan-favorite with the Phillies that hit one of the biggest home runs during a magical postseason run has been meteoric.
His first game as a Phillie came on Aug. 4. Prior to that, the only experience that Marsh had as a big leaguer playing in Philadelphia came as a visitor, when the Angels visited Citizens Bank Park in early June. It was the first series where Rob Thomson served as the interim manager for the Phillies, following the dismissal of Joe Girardi. The Phillies would sweep the Angels, who were in the midst of a 14-game losing streak that would eventually cost Joe Maddon his job. Marsh went just 1-for-12 during the series, striking out in half of his at-bats.
For Marsh, June wasn’t the first time that he had ever been at Citizens Bank Park, though. And the way he tells the story, a disappointing three-game series wasn’t his lowest moment in Philadelphia.
“Actually, I had a little pre-draft workout here back in 2016,” Marsh recalled Wednesday in a media session at Citizens Bank Park. “And yeah, didn’t go so well here for me. But I’m glad to be here now. And you know, everything works out the way it’s supposed to. And I think I’m in the right spot.”
Marsh is an affable guy, willing to talk to the media about everything from the shoes he’s wearing on a given day to his commitment to the bit of keeping his long hair damp, whether he’s playing on a 90-degree day in June or at an indoor stadium in the World Series.
Surely, he’s exaggerating how poorly his pre-draft workout with the Phillies went.
“No, it did not go well.”
Well, what didn’t go well?
“I ran slow, threw soft and didn’t hit the ball far. It wasn’t a good showing for me. Like I said, I’m glad to be here now. And I loved it when I came here in 2016, and it’s funny how it all comes back around and I’m here now so it’s awesome.”
Marsh was ultimately selected with the 60th overall pick in the 2016 MLB Draft by the Angels out of Buford High School in Georgia. 17 picks prior to that, the Phillies selected RHP Kevin Gowdy out of Santa Barbara High School in California, hopeful that he and that year’s No. 1 overall pick — Mickey Moniak — would help to replenish a farm system that had struggled for the better part of a decade to consistently produce home-grown talent.
Spoiler alert: That’s not how things played out.
Nearly seven years later, Gowdy is a free agent and Moniak will be competing for a spot on the Opening Day roster of the Angels, having been traded to Los Angeles in an Aug. 2 deal that allowed the Phillies to acquire RHP Noah Syndergaard. And Marsh — who seemingly nothing went right for when he tried to impress the Phillies as a high schooler in advance of the 2016 MLB Draft — is going to be the Opening Day center fielder for the Phillies, a team he helped to win the National League Pennant in 2022.
Sometimes, it is funny how things come back around.
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