The Philadelphia Phillies are already in last place in the NL East just four games into the season. This is causing some panic for Phillies fans, especially after a 13-2 loss to the Washington Nationals on Monday.
Now, the Phillies hope to get back on track, and Andrew Painter will be making his MLB debut. The 22-year old and top prospect for the Phillies has been on a journey to get to this level. He looked like a sure-shot major leaguer before needing Tommy John surgery in 2023. Then, he returned to make his professional debut at the Triple-A level, but was not dominant. He spoke about the process to Todd Zolecki of MLB.com.
“I think Triple-A was a good place to get that failure and really experience it there,” Painter said on Monday. “If you go through and if you don’t have any failure and you hit it at the big leagues, I think that’s really tough. So being able to get that first little bit of failure in my career, not on the biggest stage, was a good thing.”
He pitched 118 innings in Triple-A in 2025, having a 5.26 ERA, but was solid in his 11 2/3 innings of work in spring training, allowing just three runs. As he gets ready to make his MLB debut, he knows to enjoy the moment.
“Definitely soak it all in,” Painter said, per Zolecki. “You know, take a deep breath. Look around. I think just try to keep everything slow. Don’t let the game speed up on you. Just try to keep it at your pace and keep in control of it.”
If he can break the three-game losing skid the Phillies are on, he will immediately endear himself to Phillies fans. First pitch in game two of the series with the Nationals is set for 6:40 pm ET on Tuesday night.
