All eyes have been on the Philadelphia Phillies' top pitching prospect Andrew Painter in the Arizona Fall League this November, and for good reason. We all wanted to see how the Phillies No. 2 prospect by MLB Pipeline would fare his return to the mound from last summer's Tommy John surgery.
So far, so good. Painter has dominated hitters, and it hasn't been particularly close.
While fans salivate at the thought of Painter joining the Phillies big league rotation next season, news of another top pitching prospect going under the knife has emerged.
Phillies send another top pitching prospect for Tommy John surgery
As reported by Matt Gelb of The Athletic, Wen-Hui Pan, another of the Phillies' top pitching prospects is due to undergo elbow surgery (subscription required).
"Wen-Hui Pan, a hard-throwing bullpen prospect, will undergo Tommy John surgery this month," Gelb reports.
According to Gelb, Pan had elbow soreness near the end of the season. The Phillies had planned to send him to the AFL along with other top prospects but that plan was derailed. The right-hander will miss all of the 2025 season as he recovers from the operation.
After signing as an international free agent out of Taiwan in 2023, Pan jumped into the Phillies MLB Pipeline Top 30 prospect list this season, beginning the year at No. 13 before dropping to No. 20 thanks to getting a slow start due to a broken pinky finger.
The newly-turned 22-year-old returned to the mound in late June. After striking out 12 hitters in 7 1/3 innings in Single-A, Pan moved up to High-A. He appeared in 14 games (one start) for the Jersey Shore BlueClaws, posting an impressive 1.29 ERA and 0.95 WHIP in his 21 innings. He struck out 22 while walking just seven.
Pan's a fireballer who has hit triple digits with his fastball, which Pipeline grades as a plus pitch, at 65 on the 80-grade scale. Paired with a mid 80s splitter, he could be a bullpen piece down the road. We picked Pan as an under-the-radar prospect to watch in September, but now we'll have to wait until 2026 to see how he recovers from the surgery.