Three years’ worth of anticipation will climax Tuesday night when Andrew Painter, perhaps the most hyped Phillies’ pitching prospect ever, and definitely the most since Cole Hamels, makes his major-league debut at Citizens Bank Park.

“It’s been a long journey,” Painter said with a smile Monday afternoon. “I’m super grateful for all the people who’ve been a part of it.”

Thirty to 40 of those people will be in the stands when Painter throws his first pitch against the Washington Nationals. The group will include family, friends, former coaches and other supporters.

Painter won’t notice them, though. He’s remarkably poised and focused for a young man who won’t turn 23 until April 10. When he shows up to the ballpark Tuesday, he’ll have the proverbial blinders on. Nothing will break his focus.

“I’ll lean into my everyday process, my regular routine, and let everything take care of itself,” the 6-foot-7 right-hander said.

Painter was the Phillies’ first-round draft pick (No. 13 overall) in 2021. He was on a fast track to the big leagues when he suffered an elbow injury in spring training 2023 that eventually required Tommy John surgery and a lengthy rehab process. The Phillies had hoped to have Painter reach their big-league rotation last summer, but control issues led to his spending the entire season at Triple A Lehigh Valley, where he pitched to a 5.65 ERA and allowed 10 hits and 3.9 walks per nine innings.

This spring in Florida, Painter took a regular turn in the Phillies’ rotation. He pitched 11 2/3 innings, gave up just seven hits, walked two and struck out eight. He did what the Phillies’ brass wanted him to do – he earned his spot in the big-league rotation.

As disappointed as Painter was in not making it to Philadelphia last summer, he believes his time in Triple A was well spent, regardless of the not-so-pretty results.

“I’m grateful for all the failure,” he said. “Last year was a tough one but I learned a lot from it.

“The biggest thing I learned was (the importance of) fastball command and not falling behind in counts, which I did a lot. When you’re getting into hitters’ counts, they’re in the driver’s seat. You want to get ahead and force their hand.”

Painter pitched 118 innings last season. The Phillies will be cognizant of his workload throughout this season, but there is no hard cap on his innings.

“It all depends on the gauges we use, arm angle, extension, velocity, all those things tell us a lot,” manager Rob Thomson said. “As long as those things are in check, we won’t worry too much about it.”

Thomson went on to say he’d be thrilled to see Painter go six innings Tuesday night.

“As long as he throws strikes, uses his stuff and keeps people off balance, he’ll be fine,” Thomson said.

Painter is well liked and respected in the Phillies’ clubhouse for his work ethic and humility.

“I just like the way he carries himself,” Alec Bohm said. “He’s never been one of those kids that acted like he’s better than anyone, like, ‘I’m the big prospect, treat me better than others.’ He’s always just gone about his business, been a good teammate, worked hard and earned his way here.

“I think game-wise, it’ll be just business as usual. We come in the same way every day, trying to win a baseball game. But you definitely notice when you’ve got a guy making his debut on the mound. You want to win ‘em all, but, for sure, you want to get a kid his first win.”