Phillies don’t have much starting pitching depth, but for now, they see Bailey Falter as their best option

PHOENIX — The Phillies don’t have many options as far as starting pitching depth goes. Among the prospects, Andrew Painter is still working his way back from a sprained elbow ligament. Griff McGarry is still building up his pitch count at double-A Reading. The Phillies would also like to see him pitch at triple-A Lehigh Valley before calling him up. Mick Abel is still working on his command at Reading. None of those pitchers is on the 40-man roster yet.

Cristopher Sánchez has pitched well of late at Lehigh Valley, and has seen his velocity tick up, but he has walked a few batters, too. Michael Plassmeyer has a 6.95 ERA through 44 innings at triple A.

So, with Lehigh Valley shrouded in smoke from the Canadian wildfires, and with Monday’s bullpen game in Arizona coming up, the Phillies decided to send Bailey Falter to low-A Clearwater. They wanted to make sure he would be available if they needed him. Right now, it seems that he is their first choice as a pitcher in reserve.

Falter pitched three scoreless innings Thursday, allowing one hit and one walk. Manager Rob Thomson said that the Phillies sent a scout to watch Falter’s start, and got some positive feedback.

“[He’s] a lot better now, a lot better,” Thomson said. “We had a scout see him in a game he pitched in Clearwater and he said he was really good. His velocity ticked up. He was back up above the barrel, in the zone. Secondary pitches were really good. He was just basing it off of his stuff — not the hitters he was facing.”

Falter, who was sent from the big league club to triple A after going 0-7 with a 5.15 ERA, will return to Lehigh Valley soon. He’ll pitch a short bullpen session on Tuesday in case the Phillies need him on Saturday at Oakland.

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Andrew Painter, who is recovering from his right proximal ulnar collateral ligament sprain in Clearwater, will throw a bullpen session on Tuesday and another on Friday. After gradually increasing the volume in his bullpen sessions, he will throw to hitters. Thomson said he doesn’t have a timetable for when Painter could see hitters yet.

Nick Nelson (left hamstring strain) will throw three innings (about 55 pitches) on Wednesday with Lehigh Valley. … Outfielder Cristian Pache (right knee meniscus tear) and first baseman Darick Hall (right thumb sprain) are off today, but are progressing well in Lehigh Valley. This week they will play every day.