Inside the visitors’ clubhouse in Cincinnati last week, an unknown member of the Phillies joked on the whiteboard on the wall: Should Marsh wear a grill on the All-Star Game red carpet? Yes/No.
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The resounding answer, by tally marks, was yes.
But don’t count on it. The poll was just some playful ribbing ahead of Brandon Marsh’s big moment, now that the Phillies outfielder has garnered some national recognition with his first career All-Star selection.
“It’ll be pretty normal. He’s got good style,” Alec Bohm said of what he expects from Marsh’s red carpet debut. “He’s gonna look good.”
It’s been fun for the Phillies to watch Marsh this year, but perhaps no one has enjoyed witnessing his rise more than Bohm and Bryson Stott. The three of them have been close since Marsh was acquired from the Angels at the 2022 trade deadline.
Early on, the group that also included former Phillies Mickey Moniak, Matt Vierling, and Nick Maton became known to the fanbase as the “Daycare,” because of their youth and postgame antics.
But now Bohm is 29, while Marsh and Stott are both 28. They’re not the Daycare anymore; they haven’t been for a while.
“Guys get called up now, and they ask us the questions, and we’re not the ones really asking questions anymore,” Stott said. “But it kind of feels like Marsh was with us during COVID at the alt site, and playing with us in the minor leagues. Just from the first day he came over, it was like he’s been here forever.”
This year feels a little different, though. Not even because of Marsh’s production — if you dig into his stats, you’ll find that the lefty has been a .300 hitter going back to May 2025, after he dug himself out of a brutal slump to start that season. So his .301 batting average and .829 OPS aren’t anything new to those close to him.
It’s different because people on the outside are starting to take note.
Marsh was the top vote-getter among National League outfielders during the final phase of All-Star voting. He was the first Phillie to secure a starting spot in the game, though he has since been joined by Kyle Schwarber and Cristopher Sánchez.
It seems like practically every other day, Marsh is asked to step in front of the cameras postgame to address a clutch hit or big moment he had. He even recently starred in a commercial for Victus’ new cheesesteak bats, which he did in one take. (Stott, who has dabbled in advertisements himself, conceded, “He looked pretty good.”) All of a sudden, Marsh has become one of the faces of the 2026 Phillies.
“I think out of all the people I’ve played with, nobody deserves the — not that he’s out here playing for attention — but nobody deserves the recognition that he’s gotten more,” Bohm said.
According to Stott, all of this noise makes no difference to Marsh himself.
“You can ask him what’s going on in world news, and he has no idea. So I doubt he cares if people are talking about him or not,” Stott said.
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Bohm and Stott agree that Marsh cares more about his teammates’ success than his own. Earlier this year, interim manager Don Mattingly used Edmundo Sosa as a pinch-hitter for Marsh against the Dodgers, despite Marsh’s numbers — even against lefties — being superior on paper. When Sosa ultimately delivered the go-ahead home run, Marsh was the first teammate to embrace him in the dugout.
“Tonight just wasn’t my night,” Marsh said afterward. “It was Sosa’s night.”
That, according to Bohm, is a moment that sums up Marsh as a person.
Baseball’s biggest stars are descending on Philadelphia for the 96th All-Star Game at Citizens Bank Park on July 14. Follow all of The Inquirer’s coverage here.
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“He’s one of the best teammates I’ve ever had,” Bohm said.
Mindset is a huge part of the success Marsh has sustained since May 2025. He tries to stay consistent every day, not allowing himself to get too high or too low because of his results. It’s an approach that he said he has picked up from Schwarber.
It helps that this season, Marsh has quieted the discussions of his ability to hit left-handed pitching, and has entrenched himself as an everyday player. If he goes 0-for-4 one day, he knows he will get another at-bat the next, no matter the handedness of the starter.
But even last year when he was still in a platoon, Marsh approached his preparation the same.
“You couldn’t tell if he was in the lineup or really out of the lineup, just based off what his everyday routine was,” Stott said. “You couldn’t tell. He’s doing the same thing, and just does it over and over and over, and it’s just who he is.”
This year, Bohm often is one spot in the batting order behind Marsh against right-handed starters. From his point of view in the on-deck circle, he hasn’t seen any major changes in Marsh’s swing from seasons past. Bohm said he’s been impressed watching Marsh’s two-strike approach, but there’s not much else he can point to as different.
Because Bohm has always seen this potential in Marsh.
“He’s always been a really good player,” he said. “I remember playing against him in the Fall League, and I’m thinking, this dude could hit. He’s a good player.”
Now, the rest of the baseball world is seeing it too.
Ryan Howard was a three-time All-Star and champion of the 2006 Home Run Derby in his legendary run with the Phillies. With the baseball world coming together in Philadelphia for the 96th All-Star Game, Howard sat down with Phillies Extra to discuss his All-Star memories, his expectations for a Home Run Derby at Citizens Bank Park, his outlook on the Phillies’ season, Kyle Schwarber’s chances of breaking his single-season franchise mark for homers, and more. Watch here.
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