Phillies' top prospect Andrew Painter is pitching again

The Phillies continue to desperately need a fifth starter — trotting out the bullpen every fifth day has resulted in a lot of losses (10 to be exact, if you combine bullpen games with the fifth starter spot previously held by Bailey Falter).

And while the trade deadline remains more than a month away and the internal options to assume a starting role are slim to none within the organization, one of those "slim" options might be making a push.

Andrew Painter, the Phillies' top prospect who mowed down hitters in the minors last season, is on the mend and pitching again, according to MLB.com's Todd Zolecki.

Painter pitched only once in spring training, looked good, and seemed to have a path to the majors this season. One has to think had he not suffered a minor UCL injury (that the Phillies were overly cautious with) he might be in the rotation right now. But if he's able to start pitching in games this month maybe he can slide into the MLB rotation at some point in July or August.

And because he didn't pitch for the first two plus months of the season, the team really won't need to worry about putting Painter on an innings limit. Who knows, maybe he can be a shot in the arm for the team as they make a playoff run.

But all of that is conjecture and optimism. Painter needs to first get on a mound and face live pitching, and then earn his way to South Philly.

In 2022, Painter pitched at three levels on the farm system combining for 103.2 innings. He had a 1.56 ERA and 155 strikeouts (to 25 walks) over that span.

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