CLEARWATER, Fla. \u2013 Wednesday was a productive day for the elder statesman and the young kid in the Phillies\u2019 starting pitching rotation.<\/p>\n
Zack Wheeler took another step in his comeback from surgery to address thoracic outlet syndrome as he threw the equivalent of two innings against hitters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt good, my arm felt good,\u201d Wheeler said after the workout. \u201cWe\u2019re going in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not clear whether Wheeler will throw to hitters in a controlled setting one more time or pitch in a minor-league game next week, but he\u2019s getting closer to ramping up the intensity of his buildup.<\/p>\n
The Phillies have been careful not to speak of a timetable for when Wheeler will be ready to pitch in regular-season action. Pitchers generally need a month of exhibition game action to build their pitch count before the season. If Wheeler is indeed close to pitching in a minor-league game, he could be ready in a month or maybe a little more \u2013 provided there are no setbacks. One thing is certain: The Phillies will not rush him.<\/p>\n
While the 35-year-old Wheeler was clearing another hurdle in Clearwater, 22-year-old rookie Andrew Painter was in North Port firing four shutout innings against an Atlanta Braves lineup that included regulars Austin Riley, Drake Baldwin, Matt Olson, Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris III.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgainst a regular lineup, he commanded the baseball better than he has all spring,\u201d manager Rob Thomson said. \u201cThe split was really good. The slider was really good. The velocity (average 96.2 mph) was really good. He looked poised and ready to go. So, I’m happy with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Painter allowed just a hit and a walk and struck out three in what was his final Grapefruit League start. He drove up his pitch count with some extra work in the bullpen after coming out of the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Painter pitched well in four starts in the Grapefruit League. He allowed seven hits and three runs in 11 2\/3 innings. He walked two, struck out eight, held opposing hitters to a .171 batting average and had a 0.77 WHIP. His next start will come during the first homestand of the season. He will pitch a simulated game at Citizens Bank Park in the days leading up to that start.<\/p>\n
After his path to Philadelphia was slowed by an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery, it\u2019s almost showtime for Painter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just trying to stay in the present and look forward to each and every start,\u201d said Painter, who will turn 23 on April 10. \u201cI think it\u2019ll hit me when the time comes, and the next start is a big-league start. I think that’s kind of when the realization will hit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I’m in a good spot.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Phillies lost the game to Atlanta, 3-2. Dylan Moore, a strong candidate to win the final spot on the bench, had two hits, a walk and two RBIs. Moore left the game after fouling a ball off his foot in the late innings, but Thomson said it was precautionary.<\/p>\n
Thomson intends to use his bullpen for Thursday\u2019s game against Tampa Bay. Presumed opening day starter Cristopher Sanchez will\u00a0start Friday. Saturday\u2019s starter is TBD. Aaron Nola will pitch Sunday and Jesus Luzardo will close out the spring Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEARWATER, Fla. \u2013 Wednesday was a productive day for the elder statesman and the young kid in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2397],"tags":[5,4,144,25,4216,40,16702],"class_list":{"0":"post-631041","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-phillies","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-philadelphia","11":"tag-philadelphia-phillies","12":"tag-philadelphiaphillies","13":"tag-phillies","14":"tag-phillies-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116253370951832407","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}