Andrew Painter has had some highs and some lows so far through his rookie season. With that in mind, there’s been a common theme in most of the Philadelphia Phillies’ pitchers’ lows.
Most of them have had one thing in common: Painter’s fastball.
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That one pitch alone was Painter’s biggest issue in the team’s 6-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox on Saturday afternoon.
Painter ended up pitching 4.2 innings, gave up eight hits, six earned runs, and struck out four batters.
As ugly as the final line may look, it was really just the first inning that hurt the pitcher in the end. Right out of the gate, the White Sox tagged Painter for four earned runs as the pitcher searched for any sort of command of his fastball.
After the rough first inning, Painter all but abandoned his fastball the rest of the outing. He also acknowledged after the game that the command with his heater just wasn’t there.
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“Maybe it’s the command of it. That’s a tough way to start the game. You look at the first four hitters of that game. You’re really not giving yourself a chance,” Painter said.
“So it’s got to be better commanding the ball and just be a little more aggressive than his own… I’m confident throwing it. The shape’s been better, but like I said, if you’re not in the zone with it, you’re gonna have no success with it.”
Jun 6, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Andrew Painter (24) throws a pitch against the Chicago White Sox during the first inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
After this start, the season stats on Painter’s heater continue to work against him. Opposing hitters have a .383 batting average and a .543 slugging percentage off the pitch, never mind simply being able to locate the pitch.
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The velocity (96.2 mph) on the pitch is still strong, but the opposing team is clearly sitting and waiting to catch a fastball in the heart of the zone.
The most concerning part of all this is that Painter built his career on his fastball. It’s his go-to table setting pitch, and the breaking and offspeed pitches are supposed to complement it, but that hasn’t been the case.
Either Painter needs to determine what the issue with the pitch is and fix it, or move away from the pitch he’s throwing 35 percent of the time in favor of a pitch he has more command of.
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