At Triple A, Phillies’ Andrew Painter enters new stage: ‘Think like a big-league pitcher’

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ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Andrew Panter walked toward the Lehigh Valley IronPigs dugout Thursday night and shook his head in disgust. “I love,” catcher Garrett Stubbs later said, “that he was pissed.” That is the whole point of the top Phillies prospect’s assignment to the International League.

It’s time to play the game.

“Before the game,” Stubbs said, “I told him, ‘Look, there’s going to be at least one time during this game where something doesn’t go the way that we want it to. … Something’s going to happen and you’re going to have to be a man and be a competitor and figure your way out of it. And so that moment happened.”

No one will remember the 60 pitches Painter threw Thursday over three scoreless innings in his Triple-A debut against Worcester, putting him one step away from the majors. Most of those 60 pitches were competitive. He featured a sharp curveball. He touched 98 mph. He even threw back-to-back changeups to a hitter. It could have been better; it could have been worse.

Painter, 22, has not been a rehabbing pitcher for a few months now. But, as he walked off the mound at Coca-Cola Park, it marked the unofficial end of an arduous recovery from Tommy John surgery, which he underwent in July 2023.

Before Thursday, Painter’s four appearances this season were about removing the rust from years without facing another team. (His only game action in the past two years came in the Arizona Fall League in 2024.) He had to establish his fastball. He had to prove to himself he could do the most basic things on a mound. He was doing all of this against inferior hitters in the Florida State League.

Now, Painter has to pitch.

“This is the easiest way to say it: He’s been, rightfully and intentionally so, me versus myself,” Phillies pitching coach Caleb Cotham said earlier in the week. “Because there’s a progression. There are some limits. And, yeah, he’s got great stuff. So he can go do that and get a lot of people out. Now, it’s going to start shifting more to me versus you. It’s: ‘I’m going to do anything I can to win today.’ It’s progressing to that type of mindset. Finding spots to take the reins off and be like, ‘Hey, this is your game. Go beat them.’”

In the third inning, Painter recorded two quick outs then started to tire. His pitch count rose higher than it’s been since September 2022. He walked the bases loaded. The first walk, to touted Boston Red Sox prospect Roman Anthony, was a good fight. The next two walks were not as competitive. With the bases loaded, he ran a full-count to a hitter with 400 career plate appearances in the majors and fired a 95 mph fastball. Painter escaped with a popout to first base.

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In an ideal world, Painter would have been more efficient and pitched into the fourth inning. Whatever. The Phillies would rather save the inning for later in the season anyway.

“Worked myself out of a jam,” Painter said, “and at the end of the day, can’t complain about that.”

Baseball’s top pitching prospect is now at Triple-A.

What work of art did @Phillies right-hander Andrew Painter craft in his @IronPigs debut?

🎨 https://t.co/tPFrKJZo6t pic.twitter.com/a5aX8zPXIt

— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) May 9, 2025

The Phillies are excited to see Painter at this level because, at times, it looked like he was on autopilot while at Low-A Clearwater. He acknowledged it; he was throwing so many fastballs in his four starts there. Hitters, even the youngest ones, figured it out. Even three years ago, before his elbow surgery, Painter was a fastball-heavy pitcher as he ascended to Double A as a teenager.

“It is time, probably starting now, to embrace the art of pitching,” Cotham said. “Or the art of planning to pitch. That’s just another step that everyone has to go through.”

Painter often uses his high-powered fastball earlier in counts because he commands it so well. When ahead in the count, he’ll go to his breaking balls. Or he’ll just throw more fastballs.

Painter had thrown a first-pitch fastball to 34 of the 45 batters (75 percent) he faced in his four starts at Low A. He did it to 10 of 13 batters in Thursday’s start. Most of them were called strikes. One was a popout.

Stubbs, considered a strong pitch caller, will be Painter’s professor at Triple A. He still called a bunch of fastballs — 45 percent of the time — and the advanced stuff won’t come until Painter’s second or third start with the IronPigs. In Stubbs’ mind, Painter has to be a part of the process. See how hitters react. Learn what works here. Learn what does not.

“We’ll learn a lot about him as a competitor,” Stubbs said. “That’s what this is about. We know how good the stuff is.”

Andrew Painter made four appearances at Low-A Clearwater before Thursday’s Triple-A debut. (Mike Janes / Four Seam Images via Associated Press)

Painter struck out five in three innings. All five strikeouts came on the curveball. It’s a premium pitch when right. He’s throwing a slider that he manipulates depending on the count or situation; he can throw it harder with more vertical movement or a little softer — around 87-88 mph — with horizontal run. It might be two different pitches, but Painter is calling it one slider for now.

Then, there’s the changeup. It’s a newer pitch, one that Cotham sees as essential. The Phillies, who rallied to complete a three-game sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday, emphasized it during the spring. It remains a work in progress, but it’s a pitch Painter can deploy to be less predictable.

To begin the third inning, facing Worcester’s No. 8 hitter Corey Rosier, Painter went slider, changeup, changeup, curveball. Rosier took the first changeup for a ball, then swung through the next one.

Stubbs challenged Painter there. Had he ever thrown consecutive changeups to a hitter?

“I don’t think so,” Painter said. “That’s something I’ve been working on this spring. Still getting used to it, but the only way it’s going to get better is with reps.”

That’s the whole point of this. The Phillies have an elaborate plan for Painter, who has now logged 14 1/3 innings in the minors this season. They are trying to preserve as many innings as they can for the summer when Painter could be in the majors. Right now, there is no rush. The Phillies have a strong and healthy rotation. They have time for Painter to explore the intricacies of sequencing a veteran Triple-A hitter.

Stubbs saw hints of it Thursday night. At one point, Painter shook off a pitch Stubbs called. The young righty wanted to go changeup. He shook a few more times that inning.

“I love that he was starting to gain some confidence in that third inning and really feeling like he wanted to go to certain pitches,” Stubbs said. “That just tells me he was starting to think along with the game.”

So, by that measure, Thursday was a success. In the majors, the Phillies want their starters to have a balanced portfolio against righty and lefty hitters. There is more planning; Cotham is intentional with how he asks the catchers to lead his pitchers through an opposing lineup.

The mission at Triple A, then, is rather straightforward. “Think like a big-league pitcher,” Cotham said. Painter is not one. Everyone expects him to be one — and soon.

For now, a little adversity with three consecutive walks and a rising pitch count is the best teacher.

“I worked myself out of it,” Painter said. “There’s no one coming to get you. So, it’s really just you against the hitter.”

(Top photo of Andrew Painter: Mike Carlson / MLB Photos via Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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