Andrew Painter will make his 22nd start of the season on Friday against visiting Durham.

The 6-foot-7, 220-pounder has pitched 92 2/3 innings this season after missing the previous two because of Tommy John surgery.

There is no plan to shut him down or limit his innings at the moment, according to IronPigs manager Anthony Contreras.

“As of now, he’s part of the rotation,” Contreras said. “I think there’s still room to grow for Painter. Obviously, you have expectations and goals prior to the year on what you would hope to happen. But ultimately, it comes down what the player does and his performance.

“If the Phillies feel that he is not ready to move, he’ll stay down and continue to keep progressing and evolving.”

Painter is 4-5 with a 5.31 ERA and 1.48 WHIP in 17 Triple-A starts with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. He was 0-2 with a 3.97 ERA in four starts to begin the season with low-A Clearwater. Opponents are slashing .264/.326/.478/.804 overall against him.

The Phillies’ first-round pick in 2021 has struggled with escaped crooked numbers in many starts, including at least three runs in an inning in his last three in a row.

But it’s part of the growing process. It is reminiscent of fellow first-round pick Mick Abel, who after struggling with crooked numbers in 2024 earned a couple MLB call-ups this season before being traded to the Twins for Jhoan Duran.

Painter has a 5.90 ERA with 21 walks and 57 hits allowed in his last 10 starts with the IronPigs totaling 50 1/3 innings. But he continues to grind through the challenging season.

“I think he’s handled it well,” Contreras said. “He’s a young kid who is going through adversity for the first time in his entire baseball career. Being able to out-talent and out-power opponents has been his M.O. because of his talent level. But it all comes to an even playing ground at some point.

“He’s at with his age and development playing against guys who have been there, done that, veteran players who know how to do what they do against his type of pitching. He’s learning what he needs to do to execute better, control the running game better, control his emotions and poise better. It’s getting better every time he goes out there.

“You see the one-inning scuffles that kind of detour him a little bit. The conversations we have after the fact gives us hope that he’s striding in the right direction.”

How they scored – IronPigs 5, Durham Bulls 4

Bottom 1: Otto Kemp, Donovan Walton and Rafael Lantigua singled to two outs to score Kemp. Lantigua’s five walks in Tuesday night’s game was a franchise record. He saw a total of seven strikes in those five walks. No nine-hole hitter in MLB history has walked five times in a game. IronPigs 1-0

Top 2: Carson Williams hit his 23rd home run of the year, an opposite-field shot on a 1-2 pitch from IronPigs pitcher Ryan Cusick. Williams has at least 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases the last three seasons. The 2021 first-round pick of the Rays had 19 home runs and 28 stolen bases in his first professional season in 2022. Tied 1-1

Bottom 2: Brewer Hicklen led off with a solo home run, his 11th of the season. IronPigs 2-1

Top 3: Kameron Misner and Cooper Hummel walked. Tristan Peters doubled home both with two outs against Cusick, who pitched three innings or more for the first time since July 20, 2024, for Double-A Midland. The 59 pitches threw were the most since July 12, 2024, when he had 86 in four innings. Bulls 3-2

Top 4: Jamie Westbrook reached on an infield single, took second on Matt Thais’ walk, continued to third on a wild pitch and scored on Coco Montes’ sacrifice fly. Bulls 4-2

Bottom 9: Kemp walked with two outs and Walton singled. Lantigua then lined a 2-0 fastball from Kodi Whitley just over the wall in left. He was his sixth homer of the year. IronPigs 5-4

Roster moves

RHP Nolan Hoffman was added to the IronPigs roster after being sent down by the Phillies. He allowed three runs on three hits and a walk in one inning Monday in his major league debut.

OF Gabriel Rincones (ankle) was activated from 7-day Injured List and was in Lehigh Valley’s starting lineup. He slashed .223/.353/.396/.749 in his first 93 Triple-A games this season.

INF Robert Moore was sent down to Double-A Reading after batting .222 in eight games with Lehigh Valley.

Up next

RHP Adonis Medina (0-3, 3.80 ERA) vs. Durham RHP Jesse Scholtens (0-1, 9.00) in a 6:45 p.m. start from Coca-Cola Park. Medina has walked 11 in his last 13 2/3 innings but has given up just two earned runs in his last two starts totaling 9 2/3 innings.

Senior writer Tom Housenick can be reached at thousenick@mcall.com

Originally Published: August 20, 2025 at 5:58 PM EDT