Phillies

Injury Updates on Brandon Marsh, Max Kepler, and Matt Strahm

By Luke Arcaini

Published: Mar 17th, 2025 · 12:33 PM EDT

---

After a clean start to spring training, the Phillies have faced a few injuries over the last few days down in Clearwater.

Luckily none of them seem to be serious or concerning.

Max Kepler ran into the left-field wall in the first inning and was immediately replaced by Christian Arroyo. Kepler and the Phillies called it a bruised lower back after the game, but neither the organization or Kepler are worried.

Todd Zolecki at MLB.com got this quote from Kepler: 

“I’m all right. At this point, it’s just a bruise. That’s what it feels like. Kind of like I got hit by a pitch.” 

Brandon Marsh slipped on the warning track in the first inning and hit his knee hard, the same knee he injured last year. He ended up slipping again in the third inning.

Matt Strahm hasn’t pitched since March 5th, but he threw from 75 feet on Saturday. Strahm is crunched on time to get back for Opening Day, and it seems there’s a pretty good chance he’ll miss the first few games. But the Phillies want to be careful with Strahm, which is the right move. There’s no reason to rush him back for March baseball.

There’s three battles that remain down in Clearwater. One or two bullpen spots (depending on Strahm’s availablity for Opening Day), the last bench spot, and the backup catcher spot. Rafael Marchan seems to be in the lead due to Garrett Stubbs having one option remaining. There’s a few guys that could get the last bench spot, including Kody Clemens, Buddy Kennedy, Cal Stevenson, and Christian Arroyo.