How Jake Cave helped the Phillies’ Brandon Marsh to be ready as he pushes to play every day

Last April, Brandon Marsh asked Jake Cave about his pinch-hitting routine. Cave and Marsh were part-time Phillies outfielders. The left-handed hitters took the majority of their at-bats against righties. Like anyone, Marsh, 26, wanted to be in the lineup every day, but this was his reality — and it still is. Of his 66 at-bats this season, only 18 have come against left-handed pitching.

In the spirit of becoming the best part-time player he could be, he decided to improve this facet of his game. The 31-year-old Cave, who was traded to the Colorado Rockies in late March and is in the midst of his seventh big-league season, was eager to help. He noticed that when Marsh was on the bench, he wouldn’t hit until the fifth or sixth inning.

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He suggested starting earlier. In the second and third innings, they headed to the batting cages to begin warming up. They went back and forth between the dugout but made sure they were ready, just in case one of their names was called. It was a tip Cave learned from veteran backup outfielder Robbie Grossman.

“Robbie helped me with how to be a pro, how to get yourself ready, that kind of thing,” Cave said. “So, with Marsh, it was one of those things where it’s obviously been my role for a while now, and there were times when he didn’t start. We’d be behind the scenes in the cage, and we’d talk about what to do on a day when he’s not starting.”

Marsh took to the new routine immediately. He tied for the third-most pinch-hit at-bats on the Phillies last season (seven) and hit .429/.636/1.000 with a 1.636 OPS and one home run over that span. Of course, it was a small sample because it’s a niche assignment. But that didn’t make it any less difficult.

“Yeah, pinch-hitting [stinks], for sure,” Cave said. “It’s hard. But he does a really good job. He’s good in general and that helps. There’s a mindset that you have to have. Obviously, you’re a competitor, but you also have to know that it’s a very hard thing to do, and to keep that heart rate down, and it’s tough.

“Sometimes you succeed and sometimes you don’t. Sometimes it’s getting up there against a tough right-handed pitcher that just came in, and giving him a really tough at-bat. Getting him to throw a lot of pitches, so other guys can see them, or maybe drawing a walk. Sometimes you hit an extra-base hit. That’s how I look at it.”

Marsh has kept the routine this season. He has only three pinch-hit at-bats and has yet to record a hit, but he feels much more comfortable doing an inherently uncomfortable task.

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“It’s nails,” Marsh said of the routine. “I’m out here to watch the boys hit, and then go in, take a couple of hacks. Go back out, watch the boys rake, go back, hit a little bit. I don’t want to be sitting on my butt all day and get called into the game cold. Being ready the whole time, really.”

Marsh has been one of the Phillies’ most consistent hitters to the start of the season — batting .288/.324/.561 with five home runs — and manager Rob Thomson has said that the left fielder will get more opportunities against lefties. If he makes the most of them, it’s hard to imagine that Marsh won’t get the playing time he wants.

But in the interim, he’ll continue to make the most of every at-bat — even when he isn’t starting.

“I just followed his footsteps,” Marsh said of Cave. “That’s kind of been his role for a lot of his time in the big leagues, so I wanted to learn as much as I could. I give all of the credit to Caver.”

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