Phillies’ Andrew Painter to take another (small) step in his return from injury

CHICAGO — Andrew Painter is about to take another baby step in his long road back to pitching in games this season.

Painter, the Phillies’ prized 20-year-old top prospect, is scheduled to simulate two innings — “an up-down,” as it’s commonly called in baseball parlance — in a bullpen session Friday in Clearwater, Fla. To this point, Painter has thrown only continuously, including 30 pitches from a bullpen mound Tuesday.

It will still be weeks before Painter begins to face hitters, Phillies manager Rob Thomson said.

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“We’re being very careful with him,” Thomson said.

Painter hasn’t pitched since a spring-training start March 1. A few days later, he was diagnosed with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. Although surgery wasn’t deemed necessary, the recovery process is tedious and deliberate.

The Phillies remain optimistic that Painter will pitch this season — and even make his major league debut. But he isn’t expected back until later in the summer, almost certainly after the Aug. 1 trade deadline.

A week ago, Thomson said center field will be “more of a platoon” between Brandon Marsh and Cristian Pache. But Marsh, a left-handed hitter, took advantage of a string of opposing righty starters last week and went 10-for-17 with three doubles in five games against the Braves and Mets.

“I don’t know what it was, but all of a sudden, his swing got better and he started hitting the ball the other way and turning on balls he was supposed to turn on,” Thomson said. “He’s got a little bit of confidence now. It was good for him.”

Thomson said Pache likely will start in center field Wednesday night against Cubs lefty Drew Smyly.

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With the Phillies headed to London next June to play two games against the Mets, Thomson plans to speak with Chicago manager David Ross about his experience there last weekend when the Cubs went overseas to play the Cardinals.

“I’ll ask him how the ball travels — and it looks like it travels pretty good — and how does that affect your pitches?” Thomson said. “It looks like that turf there is very spongy. There’s little things like that — how does the ballpark play? That type of thing.”

MLB and the Players’ Association had several meetings throughout the day to discuss whether to play Tuesday night’s game because of poor air quality in Chicago due to the Canadian wildfires. The game began on time. ... J.T. Realmuto wasn’t in the lineup because Thomson wanted him to have back-to-back days off. Realmuto started eight consecutive games and 11 of 12, and entered Tuesday having been behind the plate for 576 innings, 32⅓ more than any other catcher. ... Bryce Harper trailed J.D. Martinez, 53% to 47%, in the runoff as the NL All-Star designated hitter, according to an update provided by MLB. ... Aaron Nola (6-5, 4.38 ERA) is slated to start Wednesday night against Smyly (7-4. 3.38).

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