Phillies top pitching prospect Andrew Painter has had an injury-plagued 2023 season. A potential season-opening rotation member, the highly-touted righty sprained the UCL in his throwing elbow in Spring Training. His rehab was set back a couple weeks ago when he experienced renewed discomfort and was shut back down.
Philadelphia expressed general relief about the latest testing on Painter’s elbow, saying his UCL was healing (via Matt Gelb of the Athletic). The soreness led them to back down his throwing program out of an abundance of caution though. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski suggested this afternoon they’re no longer viewing Painter as a key factor for the 2023 MLB staff.
“We’re not counting on him as depth at this time,” Dombrowski told Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. “Where he is at this point, he has tenderness [in the elbow]. He’s still dealing with that. I mean, you can just do the math. It just doesn’t make sense. I think basically as of a couple weeks ago when he had that [setback], in my own mind I thought that’s it for this year.”
While the Phils haven’t officially announced Painter as being done for the season, it looks unlikely he’ll make his MLB debut before 2024. Barring further setbacks, the 20-year-old still figures to enter next year as one of the sport’s top pitching prospects and a potential factor for the MLB rotation.
Relatedly, Dombrowski told Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman of the New York Post on their podcast that Philadelphia was open to adding rotation depth before the August 1 deadline. That’s no surprise; as Dombrowski pointed out, the vast majority of the league could stand to secure more pitching depth.
Philadelphia has a starting five of Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, Ranger Suárez, Taijuan Walker and Cristopher Sánchez. Sánchez was a late entrant in that mix but has pitched well through six starts. In 30 1/3 innings, the 26-year-old southpaw owns a 3.26 ERA built on an excellent 54.1% grounder rate.
Dombrowski praised Sánchez’s performance and implied the Phils were happy with their current top five starters. However, he indicated they could look to fortify the depth in case anyone in their current group suffers an injury. Bailey Falter stands as the #6 starter. He has a 4.38 ERA over nine Triple-A starts after surrendering a 5.13 mark over 40 1/3 big league innings early in the season.
TJ surgery is here don’t wait like u did Sir Anthony.
When will the Rangers announce they are no longer counting on Martin Perez as a major league starter? Send him to rookie ball already.
This is a Phillies thread
It was meant to be a joke. This guy seems like an elite prospect, but they can still win with Turner picking it up. He’s on my fantasy team, so I need him to. I spend $61 on him in the draft. I like him and Nola.
20 years-old.
MLB is simply burning out not just veteran pitchers, but too
many youngsters as well.
Fans suffer as future stars will be limited to quality production
under 5 years – then will bounce from team to team hanging
on for another 3-7 years as a shell of what they once were. It’s
already started happening.
He’s only been in pro ball two years. The Phillies are shutting him down for the rest of the season. How is that burning him out? Maybe he pitched too much in little league or college. There are some very aggressive little league coaches and parents. It might not be MLB that burned him out, if that’s even the case
Trade him!( to.the Tigers)
“A GM from the NL East claims THIS player can no longer be counted on. You won’t believe who until you click!”
A) If you don’t like it, go somewhere else
B) The title of the article is pretty self-explanatory; hardly clickbait
This guy is not gonna pitch in 23/24 and half of 25 now. Another bonehead move by the Phillies. Oh and they should have traded Rhys Hoskins two years ago
I’m guessing you must be a Roger and Kody Clemens fan, because that is one of the Phillies go-to moves, without run producer Hoskins. I’ve heard Harper is moving to first soon, but hopefully that doesn’t screw up the outfield by putting two defensive liabilities in the corners.
Why? Roger and Kody have nothing to do with. In fact I’m a fan of Debbie Clemens. Smoke show
Why would he miss 23/24 and half of 25? He doesn’t need TJS. Not yet, at least.
Your last sentence answers your question. It seems the writing is on the wall. There have been so many guys that have minor injuries to their UCL or forearm or biceps and they rest for a while, then come back, get injured within a month of throwing max effort, then have TJS. The teams and/or players are either in denial or really hopeful that rest will heal it completely. If he isn’t throwing until early next year and he blows out his UCL, he would be done for 15ish months. Then he’d have to go through his own spring training ramp-up period followed by a rehab assignment, and you are looking at pitching around Aug 2025. I think @whosehigh is spot on. With that being said, I also hope the kid returns to full heath soon and doesn’t need the surgery.
Yea trade Rhys the guy who had 7 HRs or whatever it was in the post season and the line up hasnt looked the same since he got hurt. But yea lets trade him because 35 HR 100 RBI guys are easy to find.
How many 1B/DH options do the phillies want? Hoskins/Schwarber/Hall/Clemens all the same type of player.
Because the kid has had a busted elbow all year. Get TJS and rehab already lol. Would’ve been slated to start spring training 2024 on time.
Not a Phillies fan, but I hate seeing young guys with big promise sidelined like this. Hopefully this is just a speed bump in his career.
Andrew PAINter
Does anybody else feel like the Phillies don’t really have a clue what’s wrong with his arm? This is like Seranthony Dominguez 2.0
The painting is on the wall…..
I’d hate to be on the job hunt for an art teacher job and find out someone named Drew Painter applied. He’d clearly get the job because of his name, just like someone named Art Lessons.
You can target him 12 to 18 months after his inevitable TJS. That’s the starting point.
MLBTR mention a LHP without using the word “southpaw” challenge (impossible)