Last Updated on July 11, 2025 11:22 am by Paul Williamson | Published: July 11, 2025

With the expectation of going to a six man rotation after the All-Star break, the Philadelphia Phillies are likely to call up their most highly touted prospect in at least a decade to supplement an already outstanding cast of starting pitchers. Some rank Andrew Painter as the best pitching prospect in baseball, with overall rankings placing him as high as sixth for any position, with the expectation that his combination of stuff and command will provide Philly a front end starter for years to come.

As good as the rotation has been, they don’t have an abundance of depth, made obvious by Taijuan Walker/Mick Abel having to start games (largely ineffectively) as a result of one missing SP (was Ranger Suarez, now Aaron Nola). This begs the question: is Andrew Painter actually ready, or just being called up out of desperation?

Painter’s stuff profile is super intriguing, not just because of his ability to generate whiffs on all three of his secondaries, particularly his cutter, and not just because of his upper 90s fastball, but because of his usage of that stuff. He’s not afraid to throw any pitch to any hitter in any count, frequently using his cutter and curveball to get ahead of hitters before blowing his heater by them in two strike counts. He’s got good command of his secondaries on both sides of the plate, which is also fairly rare for a 22 year old pitcher with less than 200 professional innings under his belt.

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Nathan Baker

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