Phils' prospect Painter showing he can still light up the radar gun in Fall League

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- If double plays are a pitcher’s best friend, then 98-plus mph fastballs are life’s thrill ride.

Just 15 months removed from Tommy John surgery that cost Andrew Painter the entirety of his 2024 regular season, the velocity has bountifully returned in spades for MLB’s No. 32 prospect.

During a four-pitch span in a battle with Moises Ballesteros (CHC No. 4/MLB No. 44) on Friday, the second batter of the game, The Phillies’ No. 2 prospect ripped off four consecutive fastballs: 97.3 mph, 97.1, 97.9, 97.9. Ballesteros wound up swatting a single to center field off a hanging curveball to win the battle, but for now, development remains paramount.

Painter, whose heater maxed out at 98.3 mph, finished with a pair of strikeouts and a run allowed on two hits across his two innings in Glendale's 9-7 win over Mesa at Camelback Ranch. He allowed a pair of singles consecutively to open his start, before retiring his final six batters.

“Obviously, I want to go out there and be perfect every time,” Painter said, “but I think it definitely helps, early on especially, to kind of go through that adversity and have to work out of the stretch and be able to get into those situations and try to get out of them.”

A breakdown of Painter’s arsenal:

Pitches: 33 (26 for strikes)
Fastballs: 20
Slider/Cutter: 8
Curveball: 4
Changeup: 1

While Painter noted that adrenaline played a big part in him ramping his fastball up into the 99-100 mph territory (on an unofficial radar gun) during his first Fall League start last Saturday, the Phillies’ top pitching prospect was consistently pumping a mid-80s slider in his second outing that was coming in so hot that Statcast picked it up as a cutter.

His final batter of the game featured an eight-pitch showdown with Rays No. 19 prospect Mac Horvath, who became Painter’s second strikeout victim on an 88.4 mph slider/cutter hybrid at the top of the zone.

“The whole thing is going to be arm care,” Painter said last week. “Just prioritizing a lot of the prep, whereas before, it wasn't that much [on the forefront]. And then the recovery part, a lot of times it's overlooked. But throughout this process, I figured out how my body responded to different things and got to know my body a little better.”

Sending a vaunted pitching prospect back into his first game action since March 2023 was sure to lead to a desire to both impress and dominate. So when Painter decamped to Arizona, so did Aaron Barrett, who works with the Phillies on the rehab side and as a pitching coordinator at the club’s Clearwater, Fla., complex. Barrett, whose final day as Fall League wise man was Friday, boasts four seasons with the Nationals (2014-15, 2019-20) as part of his résumé, as well as an incredible comeback story.

“He's kind of been my guardrails here,” Painter said. “He was coming here to kind of make that transition a little smoother, and I can't thank him enough for what he's done throughout this whole process and being able to do that for me. So now I'm kind of my own, but I feel like I'm ready.”

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The Phillies will continue to handle Painter cautiously. He worked with just five days’ rest between outings this time around, a step forward after primarily pitching once per week during his ride up the system in 2022 between Single-A Clearwater, High-A Jersey Shore and Double-A Reading.

Through two Fall League outings, he has used up four of his approximately 20 innings that the club has allotted for his time in the desert. The velo has been there. The swing-and-miss has been there. But most importantly, the health has been there.