The general consensus entering the 2025 season is that the Philadelphia Phillies boast as good a starting rotation as any team in Major League Baseball.
The Phillies were already returning Zack Wheeler, a perennial Cy Young candidate, leading a quartet of former All-Stars that included Cristopher Sánchez, Aaron Nola and Ranger Suárez. They added talented left-hander Jesús Luzardo during the offseason to form the type of staff that can carry a team into postseason play.
As Andrew Painter continues his rehabilitation from Tommy John surgery, it could make for a rather enviable dilemma at some point during the season. While in-season injuries often have a way of providing easy answers to such dilemmas, there is certainly a scenario where Philadelphia’s top prospect, and one of the more highly anticipated young pitchers in baseball, will be searching for a spot on the roster.
ESPN.com writer David Schoenfield is anticipating that very scenario, and fortunately for Philadelphia, he has a suggestion.
As part of the site’s 2025 season preview, Schoenfield offered up “one (realistic) bold prediction” for all 32 teams. For the Phillies, Schoenfield forecasted that the five starting pitchers would all throw at least 162 innings, with each of them posting an ERA under 3.50. That would make the Philadelphia rotation the first to accomplish both feats since the Chicago White Sox in 2006.
“And since we’re predicting good health,” Schoenfield continued, “that means rookie Andrew Painter will be the closer in the postseason.”
Andrew Painter Showed Dominating Stuff in Arizona Fall League
The 6-foot-7 Painter certainly seems to possess the tools for success at the end of games. Philadelphia’s first-round draft pick (13th overall) in 2021, Painter already had a fastball that tickled triple digits, and he debuted a new, harder slider in the Arizona Fall League in 2024, his first game action since the surgery in July 2023.
“Throw it hard, rip it,” Painter said of the new slider he added to his fastball, curveball and changeup. “It was more sweepy, more horizontal, slower. Just kinda throwing the harder one. That was even a goal in 2022, trying to throw it harder. We introduced a cutter, it was short-lived, one outing. But the cutter is essentially the slider now, we just took that grip.
“I’m comfortable with the slider, tested it out in the AFL, felt good, I could command it. Curveball, same thing. Changeup is kinda the next one. Trying to work on making my changeup a better offering.”
Painter, who turns 22 in April, pitched briefly in six separate outings for the Glendale Desert Dogs during the fall season. He struck out 18 over 15.2 innings and earned the AFL’s Pitcher of the Year Award.
“I felt great and thought I could have done more but understand why they were being cautious with me,” Painter said.
Andrew Painter Will Pitch in Extended Spring Training Games
That cautious approach continued throughout spring training, as Painter did not throw during any games. Dave Dombrowski, the Phillies’ president of baseball operations, recently said that Painter will also not be with a minor league affiliate at the beginning of the season, instead remaining in Florida to throw in extended spring training games, which will start in the next few weeks.
“We’re going to push the innings back,” Dombrowski said. “Andrew understands the plan.
“We’re going to save a lot of his innings until we get to July-ish for the big-league level. It might be June. It might be August. You can’t use too many [innings] at the minor-league level.”
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Phillies Top Prospect Suggested for Key Postseason Role appeared first on Heavy Sports.