Scouting report: Phillies righty Painter

MiLB.com's Scouting Report series spotlights players who are just starting their professional careers, focusing on what the experts are projecting for these young phenoms. Here's a look at third-ranked Phillies prospect Andrew Painter.

The Phillies’ farm system isn’t looked upon as favorably as others, but a strong first full season from Andrew Painter can give the club one of the best pitching prospect duos in the sport.

Philadelphia selected Painter with the No. 13 overall pick in last year’s Draft. It marked the second year in a row in which the Phillies went with a prep right-hander with their first pick. Mick Abel, MLB Pipeline’s No. 64 overall prospect, slipped to the Phils at No. 15 the year before.

“I've had the pleasure of seeing a bunch of other teams' top guys, and I think the guys in our system stack up with those guys,” Preston Mattingly, the club’s recently hired farm director, told MLB.com in February. “They don't get the recognition that others do. When you talk about the top of our prospect list, Abel and Painter, those guys are as good as anybody's two pitchers.”

Abel compiled a 4.43 ERA over 14 starts for Low-A Clearwater, but held opposing batters to a 1.74 ERA and 13.3 K/9 in his first pro action last year.

Painter, meanwhile, stayed in the Rookie-level Florida Complex League after being drafted. He struck out 12 while allowing four hits over six total innings in four appearances. It was an encouraging first step for the 18-year-old in his home state, where he’ll likely debut with Clearwater this year.

“I look up to Mick because he’s kind of gone through a little bit of that same path,” Painter told MLB.com in February. “I ask him a bunch of questions and see what, you know, it’s going to be like moving forward. He gives me guidance and helps with everything. … Yesterday, we were talking changeup grips. I was asking, ‘Hey, how do you throw yours?’ Just messing around with some stuff.”

Andrew Painter, a RHP from Calvary Christian Academy (Fla.), is one of the top HS pitching prospects in the 2021 Draft class. Here's more on Painter and the rest of the top prep prospects for next year's Draft: https://t.co/xxXob95Gcp pic.twitter.com/83XZA0vOVI

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) September 16, 2020

The Phillies’ third-ranked prospect was viewed as one of the top prep arms in last year’s Draft. He put together a stellar senior season at Calvary Christian High School, which earned him Florida’s Gatorade Player of the Year honors. He averaged more than two strikeouts per inning and finished with a 0.31 ERA that final season, but he’d already earned national acclaim long before he was Draft-eligible.

Now listed at 6-foot-7 and 215 pounds, Painter played on the Under-15 USA Baseball national team in 2018 and was invited to the Under Armour All-America Baseball Game at Wrigley Field the following summer. By then, he was already 6-foot-6 with an impressive ability to get on top of a low-90s fastball.

“He’s a large human being,” Phillies amateur scouting director Brian Barber told MLB.com after Painter signed with a $3.9 million bonus last July. “And you notice that immediately. You start digging into some of the baseball attributes that he has, and the delivery has an excellent starting point, the arm action works really well. And then he just has really good stuff. The very first times that we saw him last summer, he was up to 97 mph. He has a curveball and slider that both project to plus [pitches], and a changeup that he has really good feel for as an 18-year-old. And, really above that, sort of the icing on the cake for us is it was a guy that at 17 years old has feel for pitching and the ability to throw strikes, and it was really just a complete package for us from Day 1.”

Painter did not issue a walk in his brief introduction to professional ball last summer. He participated in the instructional league and his fastball velocity increased throughout the summer -- often sitting between 94-97 mph with an ability to touch triple digits.

A strong first full season for Painter would be a welcome sight in Philadelphia. The Phillies haven’t had the greatest luck in graduating homegrown prospects in recent years, which contributed to the hiring of Mattingly and a new player development staff.

Like Abel, Painter’s ceiling is extremely high, but if they figure it out together, the duo could one day lead a very talented rotation in Philadelphia.

Here's what the experts at MLB Pipeline have to say about Painter:

Scouting grades (20-80 scale)

FASTBALL: 60
CURVEBALL: 55
SLIDER: 50
CHANGEUP: 55
CONTROL: 55
OVERALL: 50

“Painter’s combination of big stuff and advanced feel for pitching put him high up on the radar, especially after showing off both at a number of showcase events last summer, establishing himself as one of the best high school pitchers in the 2021 Draft class. He pitched well enough to earn Gatorade state high school player of the year honors this spring and to become the second prep right-hander to be selected in the first round when the Phillies took him No. 13 overall and signed him for $3.9 million.

Painter delivers a legitimate four-pitch mix from a 6-foot-6 frame and has a very advanced feel for his gameplan on the mound. He typically sits in the 93-95 mph range and touches 96 with his fastball. He utilizes both a two- and four-seamer and likes to elevate to get swings and misses up in the zone. He throws both a 12-to-6 type curveball in the upper 70s and a mid-80s slider, and he flashed a potentially plus changeup over the summer.

Despite his size, Painter is very athletic on the mound and repeats his delivery extremely well, throwing all four pitches for strikes with a chance he’ll have plus control and command in the future. And while he’s already strong, there’s projection in his frame, and he could throw harder as he matures, allowing Phillies fans the chance to dream of a Painter-Mick Abel combination at the top of a future rotation.”