Andrew Painter has been the Philadelphia Phillies’ No. 1 prospect, by MLB Pipeline’s rankings, for what feels like forever. After a disappointing 2025 campaign, Painter is putting in the offseason work and a recent video of that work will have Phillies fans drooling for what could lie ahead in 2026.
Now 22 years old, Painter is coming off his first full season back from Tommy John surgery. It was expected that he would make his MLB debut this past summer, but that never transpired. Thanks to poor results in Triple-A Lehigh Valley he was kept in the minors as he worked through some mechanical issues.
Andrew Painter looks ready to deliver for the Phillies in 2026 in new workout video
But as the year drew to a close this week, Cressey Sports Performance posted a video on social media showing the right-hander working out at one of their training centers.
The montage features the former first-round draft pick going through a series of workouts and throwing. There are also a few shots of Painter throwing his fastball bullpen and boy oh boy does his heater look good. Unfortunately, we can’t see the velocity, but the shape and movement look good.
“Philadelphia Phillies’ No. 1 prospect, Andrew Painter, gearing up for a fastball-only bullpen paired with an upper-body lift,” the video was captioned.
Philadelphia Phillies’ No. 1 prospect, Andrew Painter, gearing up for a fastball-only bullpen paired with an upper-body lift💪
— Cressey Sports Performance (@CresseySP) December 30, 2025
Coming soon 👀#cspfamily #phillies #mlb pic.twitter.com/44XgzSVfqh
The Phillies have already given Painter the runway to win a starting rotation job in spring training. If he has been able to fix his arm slot issue that led to troubles with command in 2025, it’s hard to imagine him not making the Opening Day roster, considering the absolute electric stuff he possesses.
In 118 innings this season, most of which came in Triple-A, Painter went 5-8 with a discouraging 5.26 ERA and 1.49 WHIP. In his first taste of the highest level the minors has to offer, he posted 3.58 BB/9. That was well higher than the 2.17 BB/9 from his only other full professional season in 2022.
In that 2022 season, which Painter split between Single-, High-, and Double-A, he posted a 1.56 ERA, 0.89 WHIP with 155 strikeouts and just 25 walks in 103 2/3 innings.
With the Phillies coming off their run to the World Series, Painter was poised to make the big league team out of spring training in 2023, but instead dealt with an elbow injury which led to surgery. Now, three springs later, Painter will have that same chance again when he takes his offseason work into the 2026 season.