Phillies hope to have update on Andrew Painter Monday; Bryce Harper expected to report Wednesday

DUNEDIN, Fla. — Phillies manager Rob Thomson said on Sunday the team had nothing to report on the status of 19-year-old pitcher Andrew Painter, but hopes to have an update on the results of his tests on Monday.

Painter, who is competing for the fifth spot in the Phillies’ rotation, made his first spring training start on Wednesday against the Minnesota Twins. The next day, he came into Phillies camp with a “tender elbow,” according to Thomson.

Thomson has declined to specify what tests the Phillies are running on Painter or whether he is getting a second opinion. He did say, on Saturday, that Painter is in good spirits, and told the manager that he “felt better” on Friday.

Painter was in the Phillies’ clubhouse on Sunday morning and in the dugout for Saturday’s game against the Pirates. He was not wearing an arm brace or sleeve.

Phillies right fielder/designated hitter Bryce Harper will be in camp on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. He will continue to rehab from his Tommy John surgery in Clearwater.

Harper underwent the surgery in November and had been rehabbing from his home in Las Vegas. The most recent update the Phillies gave was that he was taking “dry swings,” meaning that he was swinging a bat, but not hitting a ball.

Phillies shortstop Trea Turner hit a line drive single to right field, and advanced to second on a fielding error in the first inning Sunday. Left fielder Kyle Schwarber stepped up to the plate after him, and crushed a home run 414 feet to center field.

It gave us a glimpse of how the one-two punch of Turner and Schwarber could play out in the regular season. Of Schwarber’s 46 home runs in 2022, 31 of them were solo home runs. With a .355 career on-base percentage, Turner figures to be on base quite a bit, which would turn some of Schwarber’s solo home runs to multi-run shots.

“It looked like we were coming out like gangbusters,” Thomson said. “We swung the bats pretty good in the first inning. So, it was nice to see Trea get the lead-off base hit and then Schwarber gets the ball up in the air and drives the ball. That was very encouraging.”

Thomson said he’s leaning towards Turner in the one-hole and Schwarber in the two-hole during the regular season. He said he’s still figuring out how the Phillies will line up after those first two.

“We’ve got some ways we can play with it,” he said, when asked if Rhys Hoskins would hit third. “We’ve got J.T. (Realmuto) sitting there. See how (Nick) Castellanos does during the rest of spring. We’ve got Hoskins, we’ve got (Alec) Bohm who is really swinging the bat. We’ve got some options.”

» READ MORE: Blue Jays 16, Phillies 4: Despite loss, 1-2 punch of Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber on display

Right-handed starter Zack Wheeler made his second start of the spring. It did not go as well as his first start, when he allowed no hits and no runs through two innings, also against the Toronto Blue Jays. Wheeler allowed seven earned runs on seven hits with one walk and no strikeouts against the Blue Jays on Sunday, exiting the game after 1⅓ innings. He threw 45 pitches, 29 of them strikes.

Wheeler struggled to locate his pitches and was giving up some hard contact. Of the seven hits he gave up, five came off the bat at over 100 mph. Nevertheless, Wheeler wasn’t too concerned. He said he felt good, physically, and felt “rushed” because of the pitch clock and because he was throwing to a new catcher in John Hicks.

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“It is what it is,” Wheeler said of his outing. “I just felt a little rushed. And throwing to Hicks for the first time, I was trying to get on the same page. So it was a little difficult out there today. But I felt good. Came out of it healthy. And the bullpen before the game was probably the best one I’ve thrown in a really long time, so that’s always a plus in spring. So take it with a grain of salt, just move on.”

“I think that’s natural,” Thomson said of Wheeler. “He got his tempo off a little bit. I think he felt like he was a little rushed and the ball was out over the plate.”