CLEARWATER, Fla. – Phillies manager Rob Thomson has been impressed with what he’s seen of highly touted pitching prospect Andrew Painter this spring.
“He’s showing poise and he’s showing that he has the mentality of a big-leaguer,” Thomson said after the 6-foot-7-inch right-hander faced the Baltimore Orioles in his third Grapefruit League start Friday.
“I think going through the trials and tribulations that he went through last year has helped him. In a way, that might sound funny, but he’s always had success so last year was a way of teaching him that when you have failure, you can come back from it. He’s pitched well.”
The Phillies had hoped that Painter would graduate to the majors by mid-summer last year. Instead, he had control and command issues at Triple A Lehigh Valley. He pitched to a 5.40 ERA and never made it to Philadelphia.
He will be coming to Philadelphia when the Phillies break camp on March 23. He will be in the season-opening rotation.
Painter, who will turn 23 on April 10, allowed his first runs of the Grapefruit League season Friday. He opened with two scoreless innings and four strikeouts against the Orioles before being charged with three two-out runs in the third. The Orioles’ uprising started with a two-out single by Pete Alonso and included a two-run homer by Samuel Basallo.
Painter threw a full arsenal of pitches. His fastball topped out at 97.9 mph. He threw four changeups and two of them generated a swing and miss. He had 11 swings and misses overall.
“The first two innings were good,” Thomson said. “I thought he executed some pitches and his secondary stuff was good. In the third inning, he got down in the count, but we jumped him from 34 to 60 pitches, which is a pretty good jump, so I can understand if there was some fatigue in there, but he said there wasn’t.”
For the spring, Painter has pitched 7 2/3 innings. He has allowed six hits, three runs and a walk. He has struck out five.
Painter will jump to 75 or 80 pitches in his next outing, Thomson said.
It’s Bohm’s third home run of the spring, second of the day
BOPPIN’ BOHM
Alec Bohm keyed the Phillies’ 11-8 win over Baltimore with a pair of homers. He has three in the last two games. He also homered against Team Canada last week.
“He’s healthy now,” Thomson said. “He went through some stuff the last couple of years, but he bulked up this offseason with the weights. He’s stronger and leaner and it’s paying off.”
WHEELER RAMP UP CONTINUES
Saturday is an important day in camp as Zack Wheeler is scheduled to make another progression in his comeback from surgery to alleviate thoracic outlet syndrome. Wheeler will throw to hitters for the first time. The plan is for him to throw 20 pitches. Though he will not be ready for opening day, Wheeler appears to be ahead of schedule in his comeback/buildup.
Orion Kerkering, who has been slowed by a hamstring strain, will also face hitters in Clearwater.
Bryse Wilson will be the starting pitcher for the game against the Yankees in Tampa.