Andrew Painter makes his Triple-A debut for the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs on May 8, 2025. (Credit: James Short for On Pattison)
ALLENTOWN - The Phillies wanted to ramp up the competition for Andrew Painter, which is why they sent him from Low-A Clearwater all the way to Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
It drew the attention of a lot of people. Former Phillies manager Charlie Manuel made the trip to Coca-Cola Field. The Lehigh Valley IronPigs handed out 22 credentials to Philadelphia media members who made the trip north to see him pitch.
Painter better get used to it, because his arrival in Philadelphia will be like Beatlemania.
As for the competition, it came with the first batter he faced.
Boston's Roman Anthony is arguably the top hitting prospect in the entire sport.
Talk about a big change from the hitters he was seeing in Clearwater.
"It's a little bit different approach than in Low-A," Painter said. "It's a little bit harder to kind of see what they are looking for, but with (Garrett) Stubbs back there, there's a lot of trust with him. I like the game that he called. I feel good with that.
Painter started Anthony with a 96 mph fastball for a strike. He then got him to swing through a 91 mph cutter for strike two.
His third pitch was his fastest pitch of the night - a 98 mph fastball that missed for a ball.
It set up his lethal curveball - 84 mph that made Anthony look foolish when he swung through it.
Andrew Painter started his Triple-A debut by striking out Roman Anthony, @MLBPipeline’s No. 1 overall prospect in baseball.
(Via @PhilsTailgate) pic.twitter.com/XmFFoHao33
It was the first of five strikeouts in three innings of work for Painter - all of which came on the curveball.
"That was a great pitch today," said Garrett Stubbs, who had two hits, including an RBI double in a rain-shortened 3-1 win for the IronPigs. "He got the first one on Roman Anthony and after that I was like, 'All right, that's going to be our out pitch tonight. ... I thought there were a lot of success tonight. ... Obviously starting out with a punch out of the prodigy, Roman Anthony was a good way to start."
Painter said he has been working on using the curveball more, especially after he gave up a few hits on the fastball in his last start.
Lehigh Valley manager Anthony Contreras was impressed by it, too.
"It was my first time seeing it in person," Contreras said. "Just the sharpness of it. It obviously compliments the fastball. That and being able to throw his change up... it's going to be a work in progress as far as how he's going to sequence and use those pitches to his advantage, but for the first time out there in this scene, playing against a good team and good hitters, it's very encouraging.
All told, he allowed just one hit but walked three, despite not allowing a run. He did throw one more fastball that reached 98, but most of his heaters were in the 96-97 MPH range.
Painter was supposed to throw four innings or 65 pitches. He didn't reach either goal.
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Andrew Painter walks off the field after a 1-2-3 second inning in his Triple-A debut for Lehigh Valley (Credit: James Short, for On Pattison)That's because in the third inning he seemed to lose command of his fastball a little bit, and walked the bases loaded.
He was able to get out of it, but he reached 60 pitches through three innings and there was no reason to send him back out for the fourth inning to throw five pitches.
"I got myself in a little bit of trouble there in the third, but worked myself out of the jam. At the end of the day, I can't complain about that."
All told, it was a decent outing. The first two innings, Painter looked excellent. He gave up a seeing-eye single to Marcelo Mayer, but otherwise was blowing through the Worcester Woo Sox lineup, with four strikeouts.
His 1-2-3 second inning was both efficient and dominant.
Missed Andrew Painter's Triple-A debut last night? Don't worry, here's everything you need to know about the No. 1 prospect's first start for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. pic.twitter.com/UxJVOMAMJ8
It was when he started through the lineup a second time that he lost a little fastball command, and started to get in trouble. But after a meeting on the mound with catcher Garrett Stubbs, he still had the wherewithal to get out of his self-made jam.
"Before the game I told him, 'Look, there's going to be at least one time during this game where something doesn't go the way we want it to,'" Stubbs said. "(I said), 'Something's going to happen and you're going to have to be a man and be a competitor and figure your way out of it.' That moment happened and I was smiling (at him as he walked off the field) and I was like, 'That's the moment I was talking about.'"
Stubbs said Painter wasn't as happy with himself in the moment as he was when reassessing the performance after the game was over, but that was a good sign in his mind.
"I love that he was pissed, you know, because he was mad that he let two of those batters get away," Stubbs said, referring to walks to Marcello Mayer and Nick Sogard after a good at bat by Anthony that started the three straight walks. "That (Anthony walk) took a lot out of him and obviously the next two guys get on via a walk. So, I was glad that he was pissed. That's him competing out there. I was smiling because he got out of it and I was excited for him, but I also wanted to remind him that that kind of stuff is going to happen. Seeing him battle through it was great."
Painter will likely throw again next week when the IronPigs travel to Syracuse.
Stubbs said he felt Painter got tired in the third inning, so he wants to see him go a little longer next time. Painter feels he will be able to do that if he improves on finishing innings stronger than he did.
But like Stubbs said, finding faults in a scoreless outing is overanalyzing.
"That's nitpicking," Stubbs said. "I thought today was awesome. He had five strikeouts. He threw a lot of strikes. ... There were a lot of successes today."
