Phillies’ Andrew Painter was ‘fun to watch’ for both teams in his spring debut

FORT MYERS, Fla. — When Andrew Painter got back to the dugout Wednesday after the first of his two innings in the most anticipated Phillies spring training game in years, he asked catcher Garrett Stubbs for an opinion.

“That was a pretty good pitch, huh?” Painter said.

Stubbs knew right away which one the 19-year-old phenom was talking about. Painter threw a dirt-diving two-strike cutter that broke at the back foot of veteran Twins outfielder Max Kepler in the left-handed batter’s box for a called third strike.

It would’ve been “a pretty good pitch” under any circumstance. But Painter only started messing around with a cutter in the offseason. And this was both the first day of March and the first time he ever started a major-league spring training game.

So, yes, it was impressive, so much so that Phillies manager Rob Thomson wished he saw a few other pitches like it. Back to that in a minute. First, Stubbs’ thoughts:

“I think he was looking for a little bit of affirmation, and obviously I don’t think he really needed it after watching the result,” Stubbs said. “Yeah, that was a really good pitch. That was probably one of my favorites. I don’t think he has ever done that before. [Kepler] definitely looked uncomfortable, especially after seeing heaters before that.”

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Painter threw mostly heaters — 19, to be exact, out of 29 pitches. He faced eight batters and started them all with fastballs. He mixed in six of those still-developing cutters and four sliders. He left the curveball and changeup in his bag, an omission that Stubbs referred to as “typical” in the first two innings of a first spring start.

Overall, as first starts go, it was fine. Painter gave up one run on three hits, including back-to-back singles by Christian Vázquez and Nick Gordon to open the second inning and a sacrifice fly by Nick Farmer. He commanded his fastball and, most importantly on March 1, emerged healthy.

“It was fun to watch,” said Vázquez, a veteran major-league catcher. “I like him.”

Twins star shortstop Carlos Correa went further.

“I believe,” he told reporters, “this kid’s going to be a star.”

Correa rolled a cutter for an infield single, but not before falling behind 0-2 on a pair of 99 mph fastballs, the hardest pitches thrown by Painter.

“He’s got electric stuff,” Correa said. “He’s going to be in the big leagues pretty soon, and that’s exciting at a young age with all that potential.”

But Painter was credited with getting only one swing and miss. Lightning didn’t shoot from his right arm. He acquitted himself well, as the competition for the final spot in the Phillies’ rotation began. But when you’ve been crowned by Baseball America as the top pitching prospect in the sport, when the billionaire owner of the team rushes out to the remote reaches of the spring training complex to watch your first bullpen session, expectations tend to be ratcheted to impossible levels.

» READ MORE: The education of Phillies phenom Andrew Painter included workouts (and hoops) with Max Scherzer

Consider this a reminder, then, that Painter, just like most pitchers who are 10 and 15 years older than him, is working on things, specifically making better use of all five of his pitches. He explained that he struggled to command his fastball early in counts, which prevented him from getting to his off-speed pitches later on. It’s part of the process-vs.-results balance that pitchers must find when they’re trying to make a team.

“Threw a lot of strikes with his fastball, basically fastball-cutter,” Thomson said. “He threw a couple sliders, but he didn’t throw any changeups or curveballs and all first-pitch fastballs. So, there’s some work we have to do there and mix a little better earlier in the count. But you can see the poise. It was really good. I thought he was good.”

It was the most hyped Phillies spring training game since, well, when?

At least since March 9, 2019, when Bryce Harper played his first game in Phillies red. But that came only one week after he was introduced in a top-of-the-dugout news conference that was, in some ways, at least as dramatic.

Maybe since March 4, 2010, when Roy Halladay made his first spring-training start for the Phillies. But Doc was already a Cy Young Award winner by then. And Cole Hamels was still two years from making his major-league debut when he took the mound for the first time in a Grapefruit League game on March 5, 2004, and struck out Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez back to back.

For posterity, Painter took the mound at 1:17 p.m. His first pitch to leadoff man Joey Gallo clocked in at 98 mph and came in high and well out of the strike zone.

Nerves?

“Not too bad,” said Painter, whose parents, Pete and Leslie, made the drive from the east coast of Florida. “I kind of blocked everything out. I’ve played on this field before, so it felt kind of like when I was in low-A. That was kind of the mindset. It was a chance for me to go out, show some stuff, and work on stuff.”

Like most of the baseball world, Twins hitters heard about Painter before they saw him. And once they saw him, they were talking about him. Phillies outfielder Jake Cave, who spent the past five years with Minnesota, said he already had text messages from former teammates who were impressed with Painter.

“It’s no surprise,” Cave said. “He’s a presence on the mound. He’s throwing a few different pitches. In my mind, he’s a no-brainer. If a guy like that’s healthy, he’s going to produce. It would take a lot to not be high on him right now.”

Said Vázquez: “The guys were talking before about, ‘Hey, we’re going to face this big [prospect]. He’s very tall. He looks big on the mound. And he was throwing 98-99 today. Throws hard. It’s like right on you. It was fun to watch.”

Imagine when Painter begins throwing his full array of pitches.

“You saw a little bit of what he can do, and I think there’s a lot more in there,” Stubbs said. “I felt like we didn’t even get to the point where he can probably get to. I probably babied him a little bit more than he needed out there. He’s got more in there. But he did really well.”

And it should only get better.

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