Last season, Philadelphia Phillies fans made headlines for doing something very rare in professional sports. They began showing support for a struggling baseball star and at that time this star was Trea Turner.
Turner hit a brutal slump in the 2023 season. Turner was batting just .235 with a .657 OPS. This was disappointing for him, considering he had signed a contract for 11 years that was worth $300 million dollars with the Philadelphia team.
Instead of booing Turner off the field as any sports fans would, they delivered a heartfelt message: They gave him a standing ovation.
The night this had happened, Turner hit an RBI single. Following that over his next 40 games, he slashed .337/.389/.668 with 16 home runs and 42 RBIs that season. He became one of the league’s hottest hitters that year.
This moment changed his season and his team’s fate.
Moving forward to a few years later, this year, so far in the 2025 season, it looks like another player on the Phillies may be in need of that spark, the Phillies center fielder Brandon Marsh.
At the start of the season he was hitting just .212 with a .280 on-base percentage and two home runs. A noticeable dip from his 2023 season when he posted a .277 average and a .372 OBP. It was the highest OBP among Phillies regulars. His offensive struggles have also been compounded by a strikeout rate of 30%.
In 2023, he was one of the best defensive outfielders. Marsh is doing the best he can and he remains one of the bigger pieces of the Phillies’ puzzle. Marsh is more than just an outfielder, he is a huge presence, a reliable player, and a clubhouse favorite. Like Turner– he is one of their own now. Those qualities can’t be measured on the stats sheet.
Given his contributions to the Phillies team and his popularity among fans, some believe that if they show support for Marsh, things will turn around for him just as they did for Turner. This could help boost both his confidence and performance and get him back to the way he was playing before he was out for a period of time this season.
