Brandon Marsh

Brandon Chase Marsh

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 6' 4", Weight 215 lbs.
• High School Buford High School
• Debut July 18, 2021

• Born December 18, 1997 in Buford, GA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Outfielder Brandon Marsh was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels in the 2nd round of the 2016 amateur draft. He was signed by scout Todd Hogan. A medical examination conducted after the draft revealed some stress fractures in his back, so he did not make his professional debut until the next year, 2017, when he played 39 games for the Orem Owlz of the Pioneer League, hitting .350/.396/.548.

On August 19, 2021, a month after making his major league debut for the Angels, he should have hit his first career homer against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. His drive off Matt Manning in the 2nd inning bounced off the top of the fence in right field and back onto the playing surface, and he made it all the way to third base with a triple. However, replays clearly showed that the ball bounced beyond the yellow line that demarcates homers, and should have been ruled a home run - except that the Angels never asked for a video review. He then added a second triple later in the game as Los Angeles mounted a remarkable comeback from a 10-2 deficit in the 6th to win the game, 13-10. He was the first Angels player to have two triples in a game since Erick Aybar in 2011. He finished that season at .254 in 70 games, with 2 homers and 19 RBIs.

He started the 2022 season with the Angels and was hitting .226 after 93 games when he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in return for C Logan O'Hoppe on August 2nd. The deal turned out to be good for both clubs, as O'Hoppe quickly became the starter in L.A. while Marsh hit much better after settling in as the starting centerfielder in Philly, batting .288 with an OPS+ of 117 in 41 games (he had been at 80 with the Angels, after finishing his rookie season at 83). He went 7 for 39 (.179) as the Phillies made it to the World Series, losing to the Houston Astros while he was platooned in center field. From 2023 to 2025, he played 134 games each season (plus or minus one) with double-digit homers and batting averages ranging from .249 to .280. He moved between center field and left field, generally sat down when there was a left-handed starter on the mound, and his OPS+ was above 100 each year. In other words, he was a contributor to a string of strong teams, even if never among its offensive leaders. He appeared in the postseason all three seasons, with his best series being ironically one which the Phillies lost, the 2023 NLCS against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He went 8 for 24 with 3 doubles in the seven games.

Early in the 2026 season, mlb.com reported a very surprising statistic about his production with the bat. His career BABIP (which stands for "Batting average on balls in play") was .374, trailing only Ty Cobb on the all-time leaderboard for the National League and American League. High numbers in this category are often considered to be due to luck, but after almost 2,300 plate appearances in the majors, it seems that this was a genuine skill for Marsh and probably the main reason he was an above-average hitter year after year. One of the reasons for this high number was that he was one of the few true spray hitters in baseball, making it impossible to use any sort of defensive shift against him - and he also hit as few pop-ups (the worst possible outcome for balls in play) as anyone in the game. In other words, he was a master at hitting balls just over the infielders' heads into the vast undefended reaches of the near outfield.

Further reading

• Mike Petriello: "Guess which Phillies outfielder is up there with Cobb & Hornsby?", mlb.com, May 29, 2026. [1]

Related Sites

• Brandon Marsh on mlb.com