Phillies right-handed – With May well underway, Brandon Marsh and Bryson Stott are producing more regularly against left-handed pitchers, while key right-handed hitters still lag. J.T. Realmuto and Trea Turner are struggling with left-on-left matchups, and the Phillies entered Sunday
PHILADELPHIA — It was May 24, and Brandon Marsh already had exactly half as many at-bats (38) against left-handed pitching as he had all of last year (76).
That isn’t just trivia for a fan looking at splits. For the Phillies, it’s the scoreboard version of a decision they’ve been trying to get right for months: how to keep their lineup steady when the opponent brings a left-hander.
Marsh has been one of the answers developing in real time. The Phillies plan against left-handed starting pitchers is still a work in progress, and the way they’ve built it says as much about necessity as it does about strategy.
They penciled in Justin Crawford in the offseason as an everyday center fielder only to protect him against left-handed starters. Crawford hit lefties last year in Triple-A, but he is 2-for-32 against southpaws in a limited sample size. Otto Kemp, touted as a platoon partner for Marsh in left field, did not start in Sunday’s game. Kemp is hitless in five at-bats since being recalled from Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
Edmundo Sosa—often a lefty masher in most years—has been more uneven with the platoon advantage this year. The Phillies started him again in left field on Sunday, and his inexperience at the position showed. J.T. Realmuto, who struggled to the tune of a .601 OPS against lefties this year, has a .423 OPS against them this year. Trea Turner, off to an uncharacteristically slow start, has a .601 OPS against lefties.
Turner is the kind of hitter who wants the conversation to stay where it belongs: on the at-bat. “I guess that’s the big statistic this year, but I don’t really think about that,” Turner said. “When you’re up to bat, it feels like you’re just competing. I think that’s more of a coincidence than anything.”.
But coincidence doesn’t change the standings of a league split.
All things considered, Alec Bohm (.792 OPS) and Adolis García (.762 OPS) have been the Phillies’ best right-handed hitters against lefties. Kyle Schwarber (.975 OPS) is their best hitter against lefties period. And right behind him, in a sign that the platoon story is moving, is Bryson Stott.
Stott struggled badly against lefties in 2024 and 2025. Like Marsh, he has broken out of the platoon for now. On Sunday against Guardians left-handed starter Parker Messick, Stott recorded two singles.
Manager Rob Mattingly pointed to the day’s pattern without dressing it up. “Our lefties actually, I felt like, handled (Messick) better than the righties today,” Mattingly said. “Stotty had good at-bats, Schwarbs had good at-bats, Harp good at-bats, Marsh good at-bats. Our lefties were good against that angle today. Our righties just have to solve that problem.”.
Marsh’s production added to the explanation. He tripled in the seventh inning against lefty Tim Herrin. Marsh has two triples this year against left-handed pitchers. His .728 OPS against lefties in 2026 is a big improvement from his .576 OPS in 2025.
While Marsh and Stott are doing more, the Phillies are still stuck trying to make their right-handed hitters carry their end of the matchup.
The Phillies protected Stott against lefties early in the season, but under Mattingly, Stott is getting more regular looks against left-handed pitching. In 26 at-bats against lefties, Stott is batting .346 with a .952 OPS. He had a .575 OPS in 2025 and a .595 OPS in 2024 against lefties.
The numbers the team lived with before this weekend were strange enough to feel like a puzzle. Entering Sunday, the Phillies had the fifth-best OPS in the league from left-handed hitters against left-handed pitching (.749). That was a continuation of last year. when the Phillies were the second-best left-on-left hitting team thanks to Schwarber and Bryce Harper.
But Harper has taken a step back this year against lefties. In 70 at-bats, Harper is batting only .214 with a .687 OPS against lefties.
And then there’s the part that has been hard to ignore: right-handed hitters against lefties. Entering Sunday, the Phillies were still at the bottom of the league with a .623 OPS in that split.
Part of the frustration around the Guardians series is that the offense didn’t just fall short in one place—it couldn’t consistently flip the game. The Phillies didn’t hit much this weekend. It was a well-pitched series that saw the Phillies on the short end.
They limited the Guardians to just four runs over three games—and still lost two out of three.
Mattingly framed it like a kind of playoff weather: tight, unforgiving, and decided by inches. “Those type of games are playoff-type games, honestly,” Mattingly said. “You get pitching like that. bullpens that are good. it’s going to be the little things that we’re able to do. scratch for a run here or there. that are going to make a difference. This series, we didn’t do it. In general, we played well, just didn’t score. The series could have went either way, right?. We could have won three games in this series, the way we threw the ball. We could have lost all three games this series the way we scored.”.
Sunday’s biggest takeaway for the Phillies wasn’t that they solved lefty pitching outright. It was that their left-handed bats looked ready to help—while their right-handed ones still need to start catching up. before this becomes the kind of matchup problem that follows a team all the way into October.
Phillies Brandon Marsh Bryson Stott Trea Turner J.T. Realmuto Kyle Schwarber Edmundo Sosa Justin Crawford Otto Kemp Guardians Parker Messick Tim Herrin left-handed pitching platoon