The Philadelphia Phillies currently hold the best pitching prospect in all of Major League Baseball. It has been a long time since the Phillies have had a prospect that the baseball world almost unanimously agrees has the potential to be something truly special.
Coming into the 2023 MLB season, MLB.com has Andrew Painter ranked as the #6 prospect in baseball, and the #1 overall pitching prospect at just 19 years old. With an invite to Spring Training this year, the Phillies already feel he may be ready to make an impact with the big-league club.
Born on April 10, 2003 in Pompano Beach, Florida, Painter played high school baseball at Calvary Christian High School in Fort Lauderdale. He was a 4-year varsity starter, making 35 appearances and 16 starts in his high school career.
According to MaxPreps, he finished his high school career with a 20-4 record and a 0.78 ERA. To go along with this, he had 233 strikeouts in 134 innings pitched. Painter was bound to be a very sought after arm in the upcoming 2021 MLB draft. He had a really good four-pitch mix that all had potential to be plus pitches in the majors.
His high school career clearly showed enough potential for the Phillies to take him 13th overall in the 1st round of the 2021 MLB draft. Since being drafted, he has been held in high regard as a pitching prospect and he lived up to that reputation in his first full season in the minors in 2022.
*Photo from Philadelphia Inquirer*
He started in Low A with the Clearwater Threshers, making 9 starts and throwing 38.2 innings. He pitched to a 1-1 record, with a very impressive 1.40 ERA. His peripheral numbers looked even better, sporting a 0.853 WHIP, 16.1 K/9 and also not allowing any home runs.
After this great start, the Phillies moved him up to High A where he did more of the same. In 8 starts he put a 3-0 record, an otherworldly 0.98 ERA across 36.2 innings and throwing a complete game shutout in the mix. His WHIP was down below 1 again at 0.873, a 12 K/9, and a 1.7 BB/9. At both levels of A-ball, he was showing his elite command and strikeout capability, along with limiting the long ball as he only gave up 2 home runs in 75.1 innings across Low and High A at just 19 years old.
In August the Phillies promoted him again up to AA to play with the Reading Fightin Phils. He only made 5 starts in this short stint, but he continued to impress. A 2-1 record with a 2.54 ERA in 28.1 IP.
He sported a WHIP of 0.953 and continued to showcase his elite command with a 0.6 BB/9 whilst still striking out batters at an elite rate with a K/9 at 11.8. His final stats across 3 levels of the minors in 2022 ended up being a 6-2 record in 22 starts. He tossed 103.2 innings with a 1.56 ERA. He struck out 155 batters while only walking 25 and giving up 5 homers. All of his rate stats looked great with a 5.8 H/9, 0.4 HR/9, 2.2 BB/9, and a staggering 13.5 K/9. This was enough for the Phillies to bring him down to Clearwater for Spring Training this year.
*Photo from MLB.com*
Phillies fans got their first look at Painter in Spring Training back on March 1st. He was the starter against the Twins and would be facing a lineup of proven MLB hitters, including Joey Gallo, Carlos Correa, and Max Kepler just to name a few. He went 2 innings, giving up 1 run on 3 hits and striking out one. His fastball velocity was sitting well into the upper 90s and topping out around 99. It was a solid first outing for the 19 year old.
Unfortunately for Painter and Phillies fans, it was reported by Jeff Passan on March 10th that Painter has a tear in his UCL. He was shut down from throwing for at least a month. The Phillies hope to avoid Tommy John surgery and are going to ease him back into throwing. Passan also reported that in a study on UCL management it was reported that the type of tear that Painter has (proximal tear of the UCL) more often than not does not require surgery. 17 of the 19 pitchers in the aforementioned study did not require Tommy John.
Andrew Painter is by far the most exciting prospect the Philadelphia Phillies have had in years. He is a pitcher with serious potential to be the ace of an MLB rotation. He has dominated at every level from high school all the way up to AA. Due to the tear to his UCL it may be a little while before Phillies fans get a chance to watch him pitch at the major league level, but when he does it is going to be very exciting.
