The Phillies' last month of the season felt like a slow march to their inevitable demise. After the Braves ended their season with a 6-2 defeat on Thursday, it felt like the end of an era for this iteration of Phillies baseball. But in the darkness, an unexpected bright light shone through: the much-maligned Andrew Painter.
Painter, 23, entered a win-or-go-home Game 2 of the NL Wild Card series with the Phillies clinging to a one-run lead, went three innings facing one of the most dangerous lineups in baseball, and came out the victor.
From being sent back down to the minors in June to showing why he was once the Phillies' top pitching prospect, Painter has been on a rollercoaster ride this season, but the conclusion offered hope for the future.
Andrew Painter's mental toughness was on full display vs. Braves in playoffs
Painter's career hasn't gone the way anyone envisioned just a few years ago. The Phillies' Minor League Player of the Year in 2022, he entered the 2023 season as a top-15 prospect in baseball before Tommy John surgery set him back two years. After a bumpy 2025 season in Triple-A, 2026 was supposed to be the year Painter fulfilled his destiny as the next Phillies ace.
His first start showcased why the Phillies were so high on him, as he struck out eight Washington Nationals in 5 ⅓ innings. After that start, however, what followed was nothing short of a disaster. Painter then went 0-8 with a 7.54 ERA before he was sent down.
Painter needed a reset. Paul Casella of MLB.com wrote about Dave Dombrowski's thoughts on Painter's June demotion.
“It’s difficult," Dombrowski said of the decision to send down Painter. “But [we've] sent many good pitchers down, many good players down, and they go down and they get reset and come back and do well. So that's what our goals are, and what we think will happen with him.”
Painter had to earn his way back into the Major Leagues, and he did just that, which put him in position to save the Phillies season for just one more game.
Painter's performance against the Braves didn't go unnoticed by his teammates. Catcher JT Realmuto called it a “career-altering performance,” according to Lochlahn March of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Fellow starting pitcher Jesús Luzardo knew that Painter was capable of such feats, too.
“I always knew he had it in him,” Luzardo said. “But it was nice to see him flourish, and show everyone that he has that dog inside him.”
As far as Painter goes, he knew if he was going to go down in that situation, he was going to bring his absolute best.
“I was trying to be super aggressive and go down with my best stuff,” Painter said. “Knowing the situation we were in there and backs against the wall a little bit, just stepping on the gas there and just giving it everything I had in that moment.”
That confidence Painter displayed can resonate far more beyond just one game. Some players either have it or they don't when the game and a season are on the line, and the only way to find out is to put them in that situation. In that playoff game, Painter proved he had IT.
Now, his next step will be consistency. Luzardo and Cristopher Sánchez are the Phillies' pitchers in their prime, locked into long-term deals. Nola has been too inconsistent for anyone to know how he will perform as he enters his mid-thirties. Zack Wheeler, while still in ace form, has given mixed signals on whether his career could be wrapping up soon. Painter, after an October showcase, is in prime position to make his mark on the Phillies rotation and be the pitcher the Phillies thought he was destined to be.
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