Andrew Painter continues to build momentum in Triple-A with another strong outing

Andrew Painter is starting to look more and more like the future ace Phillies fans have been dreaming about — and his latest Triple-A outing for Lehigh Valley is another step in the right direction.

Painter took a shutout into the fifth inning on Thursday before a couple late hits dinged his final line a bit. Still, the 22-year-old right-hander was impressive.

He retired eight of the first nine batters he faced, struck out five, and matched his season high with 81 pitches (49 strikes) over five innings.

Andrew Painter: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 5 K.

Andrew Painter touched 99.2 mph while utilizing his cutter for 3 of his 5 strikeouts for the Triple-A @IronPigs.

MLB's No. 5 prospect (@Phillies) has 32 K's in 28.1 IP this season. pic.twitter.com/N924rLSHQc

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 29, 2025

Andrew Painter now owns a 2.65 ERA with 20 strikeouts in 17 innings over four Triple-A starts. After missing all of last season recovering from elbow surgery, the Phillies’ top prospect (No. 1 in the system, No. 5 overall in MLB) is trending in the right direction.

The Phillies are taking it slow with Andrew Painter, understandably, but outings like this show why there’s still so much excitement around his potential. The fastball looked lively again, the command was solid, and he showed no fear pitching aggressively in the zone.

The late-inning “hiccup” was more a product of pitch count and fatigue than any real concern. More importantly, he’s building up innings and stacking healthy starts — exactly what you want to see at this stage.

With the Phillies rotation holding strong right now, there’s no rush. But if Painter keeps this up, you have to think a big-league debut at some point this summer is firmly on the table.

And when that happens? The upside is sky high.

Hard to believe the Phillies won’t have the best rotation in baseball once Andrew Painter arrives in Philadelphia!

His stuff is world-class! pic.twitter.com/pKeLPJcfBA

— Pitch Profiler (@pitchprofiler) May 29, 2025

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