Phillies ‘extremely excited’ about how Painter could help in ’25 and beyond originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
CLEARWATER, Fla. — The Phillies had no idea last summer that Andrew Painter would be able to participate in the Arizona Fall League.
Their top pitching prospect had undergone Tommy John surgery on July 25, 2023 and was being held out for the entire 2024 season. Painter is still just 21 years old and the Phillies feel he can be a major-league ace so they were always going to lean toward a cautious approach.
“But he kept progressing, progressing,” Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said Wednesday.
Painter’s rehab went well enough that team head athletic trainer Paul Buchheit told Dombrowski as the Arizona Fall League approached that he thought the right-hander was healthy enough to move to the next phase. Painter went to the AFL and dominated, earning the league’s Pitcher of the Year award by allowing just four runs in 15⅔ innings with 18 strikeouts and four walks.
The Phillies are still taking things slowly with Painter, a giant at 6-foot-7 who is filling out. He’s in big-league camp with a locker in the back-right corner near Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola and Matt Strahm but will not pitch in Grapefruit League games. Painter won’t be on the Opening Day roster, which was a real possibility two springs ago before the elbow injury. For now, he will throw on the side every three days. The next step would be facing hitters, then pitching in extended spring training games as the regular season approaches.
If all goes well, Painter would then build up by pitching in the minor leagues. Provided he’s healthy and performing, he could be called up to the majors by June or July.
“I’ve said all along July-ish and I don’t know if that means June or August,” Dombrowski said. “Hopefully we have five really good starting pitchers at that point that make it difficult for him to break into (the rotation). So you wait to see what happens. But that’s when I think we’ll turn him loose more because if you look at the innings limitation, we want to build him up and not burn him too early in the year.”
The Phillies’ rotation is filled out with Wheeler, Nola, Ranger Suarez, Cristopher Sanchez and Jesus Luzardo. Suarez is the only one who will reach free agency after the season. No team boasts a better starting five, but teams never make it through 162 games with just five starters, especially now. Injuries…