Andrew Painter lived up to every bit of the hype in his Phillies spring debut

It was three years in the making, but Philadelphia Phillies fans finally got to see Andrew Painter take the mound on Sunday at BayCare Ballpark in his first spring training start since 2023. The Phillies’ top pitching prospect did exactly what we were all hoping he would do when we learned earlier this week that he’d be making his spring debut, dazzling in his two innings of work.

The visiting New York Yankees didn’t bring their big stars, but against a lineup that still featured big leaguers Trent Grisham, Ben Rice, and Ryan McMahon, Painter needed just 20 pitches to get through two scoreless frames. He didn’t allow a hit or a walk while striking out one.

Phillies top prospect Andrew Painter impressed in his first spring training start in three years

He got through a 1-2-3 first inning, getting Grisham on a pop up and Rice on a ground out, before striking out slugger Jasson Domínguez who swung through a beautiful 90 mph slider. He had another quick six-pitch inning in the second, inducing a pair of fly balls to right and a ground out.

But more important than the results was how the right-hander got there with his full six-pitch arsenal. Right from the jump, Painter’s velocity was where you’d expect. He threw 13 four-seam fastballs, sitting 96.8 mph, and touched 97.8 mph. He mixed in his other pitches effectively, throwing two changeups, two curveballs, and one each of his sinker, slider, and sweeper.

“It definitely felt a little better,” Painter said of his fastball during his in-game dugout interview. “It’s been better this offseason. It’s been a really good offseason. I put in a lot of work, feeling good going into the year.”

While we were expecting good velocity, the big test for Painter was his command. After struggling to maintain his arm slot last season, leading to poor results in Triple-A, he put the ball where he wanted for the most part in this outing. He has a few pitches sail on him out of the gate but found the zone the rest of the way, racking up 14 strikes out of his 20 pitches.

Leading up to this start, he had shown good command in his bullpen and live sessions early this spring after working over the offseason to fix his arm slot. It paid off in his 2026 debut and now he just has to maintain it.

So now the Phillies will want to see him continue a regular starter’s build-up over the next month as he prepares to take his place in the Opening Day starting rotation. The Phillies aren’t using the kid gloves for the 22-year-old this spring. As Painter has told reporters recently, he has no limitations this year, his second full season after recovering from Tommy John surgery in 2023.

While it was exciting to see Painter make a good first impression, it’s still early and we just have this very small sample size. But so far so good.