The Phillies top pitching prospect faced live hitters for the first time this spring, and he says he’s main priority is health.
The Phillies' top minor-leaguers won their Spring Breakout game against the Pirates on a day that began with their No. 1 prospect reaching his next checkpoint.
Andrew Painter threw his first live batting practice session of the spring on Friday morning, facing Alec Bohm, Brandon Marsh and Bryson Stott.
"Small sample size today but biggest takeaway was how the changeup's pretty good," Painter said. "It's something I've been working on. I threw a couple to Marsh and he said it looked pretty good. Felt like I could land most things for a strike."
To this point in camp, Painter had been throwing side sessions or bullpen sessions at less than 100% intensity. He wasn't going all-out during Friday's live BP, either.
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"Still easing in, first one," he said. "Two years ago, the first one felt really good and that led into some problems. I'll take it easy here, a few more, just kinda build off every one."
Two years ago, Painter entered camp as the perceived frontrunner in the Phillies' No. 5 starter's battle. He was being built up to begin the season because even at 19, the front office felt he had a body and skillset to pitch in the major leagues. An early highlight that spring was Kyle Schwarber homering off Painter during live BP a few days into full-squad workouts and playfully letting him hear about it.
Painter started a game against the Twins early that spring and showcased an upper-90s fastball but was quickly shelved by elbow soreness that eventually required Tommy John surgery. Painter missed all of 2024 recovering but felt good enough toward the end of the year to participate in the Arizona Fall League, where he excelled. The Phillies' plan with him in 2025 is to bring him back up to speed slowly, saving the bulk of his innings for the second half when those innings could come in the majors.
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Painter will throw a side session on Tuesday and will have a couple more live BPs before the Phillies break camp. When the season begins, he'll stay back in Florida to keep working before eventually pitching in minor-league games.
Phils win Spring Breakout
The Phillies' top prospects beat the Pirates' top prospects, 5-3, at BayCare Ballpark. The Phils scored twice in the third inning and took the lead for good on a solo home run in the seventh by second baseman Carson DeMartini.
DeMartini was involved in a scare earlier in the afternoon when he was hit by a pitch on the wrist from left-hander Anthony Solometo. DeMartini stayed in the game and scored in the inning as infielders Devin Saltiban and Aroon Escobar hit back-to-back doubles at the bottom of the order off of Solometo, a Bishop Eustace product from Voorhees, NJ. The Phils' bats were glad to see Bubba Chandler, a Pirates top prospect, exit the game after pumping consistent 99 mph fastballs the first two innings.
Phillies director of player development Luke Murton was in the NBC Sports Philadelphia broadcast booth with Tom McCarthy and Cole Hamels as the bottom of the third unfolded and expressed how intrigued the Phillies are by Saltiban's power and the development Escobar is showing. Both are 20 years old.
The top of the order included players who have already appeared in big-league spring training games for the Phillies: Justin Crawford, Aidan Miller, Gabriel Rincones Jr., Otto Kemp. Hitting second was left fielder Dante Nori, the Phillies' first-round pick last summer.
Crawford showed his speed in that two-run third by legging out a chopper to a drawn-in third baseman. He later tripled. Miller and Nori went hitless.
Moises Chace, acquired from Baltimore last summer for Gregory Soto, started and struck out two in a scoreless first inning. Conditioning and velo have been focal points for him in camp. His fastball was 91-92 mph on Friday compared to the mid-high-90s last season.
Jean Cabrera, who like Chace is on the Phillies' 40-man roster, followed with two scoreless innings, working around two hit batsmen.
