Two years ago, a 19-year-old Andrew Painter had arrived at big league camp as a star attraction, set to compete for a place in the Phillies starting rotation.
Painter had been selected by the Philadelphia Phillies in the first round of the 2021 draft and signed with the club for $3.9 million. That year, he pitched his way to Double-A, throwing six scoreless innings and 12 strikeouts in his debut outing.
This momentum continued into 2022 as he pitched with minor league Phillies team affiliates: the Clearwater Threshers, Jersey Shore BlueClaws, and Reading Fightin Phils. He was named the inaugural BA Minor League Pitcher of the year.
So when he took the mound that spring in 2023, crowds of Phillies fans had arrived, excited to catch a glimpse of the talented young pitcher as he threw a live batting practice session. Hitters included Kyle Schwarber and Brandon Marsh.
They came for Painter, but part of the draw was also to see how well the Phillies slugging lineup would react: were we about to watch a young upstart humiliate them before the season was even underway?
Schwarber hit him out of the park. It is reported that, having done so, he removed his helmet, looked towards the mound with a smile, and yelled, “suck it Painter!”
And Painter did suck it. He started one game for the Phillies that spring but left with a sore elbow.
Rather than push through the pain, he chose the long game and elected to undergo Tommy John surgery. He would spend the remainder of that year and the 2024 season recovering and rehabbing, with his sights locked on 2025.
In October 2024, after what he has described as a “two-year offseason”, Painter travelled to pitch in the Arizona fall league with the Glendale Desert Dogs.
In Arizona, he pitched 15 and 2/3 innings for Glendale, showing his command of fastball, slider, curveball, and changeup pitches and finishing with a 2.30 ERA, the second best in the league. His performance earned him the Arizona Fall League Pitcher of the Year award.
The Phillies are likely to handle Painter with kid gloves for much of this year, at least until they feel confident he can pitch at the highest level and remain healthy. Clearly, they think he can, but they will want to remain cautious, as Painter is very much a big part of a longer plan in Philadelphia. As Dave Dombrowski, Head of Baseball Operations, has framed it, “…we just have to be careful with him this year. He has the potential to be a number one, top-of-the-rotation starter.”
MLB pipeline currently has Painter as the number eight prospect in all of baseball. In Philadelphia, he’s number one. And while fans will have to make do with a brief unboxing this spring – he’ll throw bullpen sessions but not games – the idea that we will have Andrew Painter, tags off and ready to make an impact this year, is a very exciting one.
Featured image credit: Norm Hall via Getty Images.
TOM BAKER is the Philadelphia Phillies correspondent for Bat Flips and Nerds. You can read more of his articles here and follow him on Bluesky @lawsonbaker.bsky.social
