Brandon Marsh an unlikely batting-champion hopeful, helping fuel Phillies' rise

The Philadelphia Phillies were off to an uninspiring start that was indicative of an underwhelming year. Former manager Rob Thomson had yet to manage 30 games into the season before being replaced with Don Mattingly, finishing with a 9-19 record. 

But shortly after "Donnie Baseball" took over, the Phillies roared back to life. Now sitting at 35-30, Philadelphia has a few players to thank for its stirring comeback. 

Christopher Sanchez has been nearly impossible to score against. Kyle Schwarber leads baseball in home runs with 23. Jhoan Duran has been lights out in the back end of the Philly bullpen. Bryce Harper continues to hit for both average and power, anchoring the lineup as he has for the past seven years. 

And last but not least, it would seem a new hero has risen to the task of helping the team overcome what was once shaping up to be a disappointing season.

Brandon Marsh is turning into a core player in Philadelphia 

In Sunday afternoon’s victory over the Chicago White Sox, Brandon Marsh took the spotlight, going 2-for-4 with a home run. It was his third home run in as many games and his eighth of the season, halfway to his career high of 16. 

But Marsh’s accelerating power production is only a small part of the story. The Phillies outfielder is now hitting .338/.368/.521 on the season, leading baseball in batting average just ahead of another surprising top-performer in Miami Marlins shortstop Otto Lopez (.336).

It was just last summer when Marsh was scraping rock bottom, struggling to keep his average above .200 until mid-June. He would, however, bounce back to finish the season at .280/.342/.443 with 11 home runs. Now, he is making significant strides in chasing an NL batting title.

At this juncture, it would be premature to call Marsh a batting title finalist. Still, with over a third of the season elapsed, it is encouraging to see Marsh sustain such a performance over a long period. And at this rate, it shouldn’t be too surprising if his name does appear atop the batting average leaderboards.