Phillies Promote #1 Overall Prospect Andrew Painter to High-A Jersey Shore
On Monday, the Phillies announced that pitcher and top overall prospect Andrew Painter had been promoted from Low-A Clearwater to High-A Jersey Shore.
By now you have probably heard of Painter. Still a teenager, the Phillies first round pick in 2021 has been making headlines in South Florida seemingly every time he takes the mound. In April he was named the Phillies minor league pitcher of the month, after posting stellar numbers that included striking out 13 hitters in a row and a scoreless streak of 20+ innings all against older, more seasoned competition.
Andrew Painter has been tearing up the Florida League this season, posting a stingy 1.40 ERA over 38.2 innings. He’s allowed only six total earned runs, while striking out 69 hitters and walking only 16.
Painter has been pitching so well, that MLB.com recently named Painter the top overall prospect in the Phillies system, jumping 2020 1st round pick Mick Abel, who had held that position since the preseason.
It’s rare for a pitching prospect with so little professional experience to find immediate success and even more rare for a teenager to get promoted to High-A this soon. Just last month, Scott Lauber reported that the team had no plans to promote Painter, despite the 6’7” right hander appearing ready to make such a leap. Obviously, the results became too much for Phils Minor League Director Preston Mattingly to overlook and that the opportunity of facing a high level of talent was worth the risk of experiencing failure.
It’s a great sign for the Phillies farm system as a whole, that they are finding success in developing high-school pitching selected near the top of the draft. Prep-arms, especially right handed pitchers like Painter and Abel are notoriously difficult to project and many teams generally shy away from taking risks on them in the 1st round. It would be an unbelievable achievement for this franchise to hit on two consecutive young pitchers and a potential great sign of things come for results at the major league level.
Painter joins a Blue Claws team in which he is nearly two full years younger than any other player on the roster and four to five years younger than the majority of the team. Originally scheduled to reach the big leagues in the 2025 season, at the rate Painter is progressing, 2024 suddenly doesn’t seem so crazy.
If you have a chance to get down to Shoretown Ballpark in Lakewood, NJ this summer, there is a great chance you will see one of the best Phillies pitching prospects. In addition to the previously mentioned Mick Abel, #8 prospect Griff McGarry, #25 Christian Hernandez, and promising right hander Ben Brown round out the rotation.
Mandatory Photo Credit: Clearwater Threshers
