The Untouchables: Phillies prospects Painter, Abel, McGarry continue to impress in the minor leagues
Before the trade deadline, Dave Dombrowski had a list of Phillies prospects that were deemed untouchable.
Five prospects were on the list. Two of them were ultimately traded. Logan O’Hoppe was sent to the Los Angeles Angels for centerfielder Brandon Marsh, and Ben Brown was dealt to Chicago for reliever David Robertson.
Andrew Painter, Mick Abel, and Griff McGarry, three rotation prospects remained, and over the past few days, proved yet again why they are the untouchable in the minor leagues.
On Sunday night Griff McGarry took the bump for the Reading Fightin’ Phils. The 23-year old pitch four innings, allowing one hit, one run, and two walks while striking out six. McGarry threw a total of 77 pitches, 46 of which were strikes.
On Saturday, Mick Abel and Andrew Painter dazzled at the Jersey Shore pitching in the BlueClaws double header.
Mick Abel set the tone in game one, tossing 6 shutout innings of three hit, three walk baseball.
After a shaky start to his first year of professional baseball, Abel has turned it on over the past few months and now sports a 3.34 ERA over his last 62 innings with a K/9 nearly at 10.
Painter threw a seven-inning complete game shutout which was the longest outing of the 19-year old’s career. He retired 21 out of 24 batters, allowing just two hits and walking one while striking out 11.
Following the outing, Painter lowered his High-A ERA to 1.21. He now has a 1.32 ERA across all levels in just over 68 innings pitched with a K/9 of 14.4.
To summarize, Abel and Painter tossed a combined 13 shutout innings and struck out a total of 19 batters. The Phillies organization believes that the trio of McGarry, Painter, and Abel could be the future of their rotation at the MLB level. It’s very possible that we will see at least two out of the three in the big leagues in 2023.
Up Next for the Phillies
Things continue to fall in the Phillies favor, with the Braves losing three straight games and the Padres losing five straight games.
The Fightins have won 9 out of their last 10 and improved to 60-48 on the season. They are three games behind the second place Atlanta Braves and 10 games behind the NL East-leading New York Mets.
Thanks to the Padres and Braves struggles, the Phillies are now in sole possession of the No. 2 Wild Card spot in the National League and are within arms reach of the first spot, held by the Braves.
Zack Wheeler takes the mound tonight as the Phillies open up a three-game series against the Miami Marlins at Citizens Bank Park.
The Hunt for Red October continues. Ring it.
