Phillies observations: Brandon Marsh’s slump, Bryce Harper vs. lefties, possible

Before the Phillies summoned the man who might take at-bats away from Brandon Marsh, the 25-year-old outfielder had made his own assessment. “I’m pissed it took me this long to get my stubbornness out,” Marsh said last week, “to get back to what I was doing.” It hasn’t been right for weeks. In Marsh’s estimation, he’s been “a frame or two late on the heater” and that is something he noticed through extensive video study.

Maybe he saw this 91 mph fastball on the inner half from April.

And maybe he’d compare it to a 91 mph cutter he saw over the weekend in Oakland. The results were different, but so was the timing.

“I’m just going to simplify, really,” Marsh said. “I’m just going to simplify and go back to two plus two.”

What’s two plus two?

“Four,” he said.

He laughed.

Marsh finished April near the top of the league in on-base percentage and slugging percentage. Pitchers made adjustments. Regression was natural. But Marsh has yet to apply the proper fix. He’s hitting .198/.286/.248 since May 1. The Phillies added Cristian Pache, who returned from knee surgery, to the active roster over the weekend and he could steal time in center.

It’s an interesting dynamic. Marsh, at the very least, will be part of a platoon.

“I think he’s caught in between right now,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “So he’s taking a lot of good pitches and he’s swinging at some bad pitches. He’s got to get back in the zone and attack the balls that are in the zone.”

Marsh crushed fastballs in April, a welcome adjustment from a season ago when he missed too many of them. So, opponents adjusted. Marsh thought he needed to focus more on the breaking balls because he was seeing them in fastball counts.

Now, everything has spiraled. Marsh’s last hit on a fastball was June 11, a single against the Dodgers. His last extra-base hit on a fastball came May 31, a double against the Mets.

“I guess it’s just a little mind game,” Marsh said. “I got off the heater because I stopped getting them. And now I’m getting them and I’m missing them. So, I just got to get back on that fastball.”

Marsh’s assessment is not wrong: He saw about 70 percent fastballs when he was ahead in the count during the first two months of the season. But, in June, that rate dipped to 57 percent.

Pache’s defense will always earn him looks. He went 2-for-8 with two doubles and a walk in the weekend series against the A’s. It’s foolhardy to suggest Pache, in 35 plate appearances this season, has made himself into a viable big-league hitter. But he’ll continue to have chances.

So will Marsh.

“It feels like I’ve been guessing a lot up there,” Marsh said. “It’s not that I’m trying to. It’s just kind of what my brain has been telling me. So, have to get off that. Get back on the fastball….