Thursday's Arizona Fall League outing was easily Andrew Painter’s best appearance since returning to the mound during his year-plus recovery from Tommy John surgery.
The sample size thus far has been small. The Philadelphia Phillies' top pitching prospect had only made two previous appearances against live competition after being a late addition to the Phillies' AFL contingent. While those abbreviated starts went well, and he flashed some of the immense talent that enticed the Phillies to draft him in the first round three years ago, his third AFL start knocked our socks off.
Phillies' top pitching prospect Andrew Painter dazzles in best Arizona Fall League start yet
The Phillies' No. 2 prospect and MLB's No. 32 prospect dazzled in the desert sun on Thursday afternoon. Facing the Salt River Rafters in a 4:30 p.m. ET start, Painter tossed a scoreless three-inning outing for the Glendale Desert Dogs.
He touched 97.8 mph in a five-pitch first inning before maxing out at 99.2 mph with his heater as he allowed just one hit with no walks and struck out three on the day. He threw 26 of his 32 pitches for strikes. The Desert Dogs went on to win 9-6 and improve their record to 9-5 as the top team in the AFL to this point.
Andrew Painter touches 99.2 mph as he spins his first scoreless start of the fall:
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) October 24, 2024
3 IP
1 H
0 R
0 BB
3 K
32 pitches; 26 strikes@Phillies | @PhilsPlayerDev | @MLBazFallLeague pic.twitter.com/Cg91vPr1wc
Painter had an encouraging AFL debut on Oct. 12, going two innings with a pair of strikeouts while hitting 100 mph on the radar gun on three occasions. He allowed a pair of runs on three hits and a walk in that start, but just seeing him on the mound was a victory in itself. He went two innings again in his second start, logging a couple more strikeouts and giving up a run on two hits.
The right-hander dominated in his one full minor league season in 2022, posting a 1.56 ERA between Single-, High- and Double-A with 155 strikeouts over 103 2/3 innings.
The Phillies have played coy about their plans for Painter in 2025. Most likely, they don't yet know how they'll handle their top prospect. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has said that they expect Painter to pitch in the majors next season, per MLB.com's Todd Zolecki.
With an innings limit most definitely in play in 2025, who will still be 21 on Opening Day, the Phillies will have to do some careful planning if they want to see him pitching down the stretch and into October.
But for now, we can just enjoy watching one of the best pitching prospects back where he's meant to be.