Phillies get depressing injury update on star prospect Andrew Painter

Philadelphia Phillies right-handed pitcher and top prospect Andrew Painter has been dealing with some tenderness in his elbow.

Andrew Painter, the Philadelphia Phillies pitcher and former 13th overall pick from the 2021 MLB First-Year Player Draft, has been climbing the farm system, so news of an injury couldn’t come at a worse time for both him and the Phillies organization.

Last year, Painter pitched in three different levels according to Baseball Reference. In addition to that, Painter, just 19 years old has been impressing not only the Phillies but also all of baseball. Baseball America and MLB.com have Painter in their top-ten best overall prospects lists.

Phillies: Andrew Painter dealing with tenderness in elbow

The combination of Painter’s 1.56 ERA to go along with his massive 38.7% strikeout rate posted last year (Class-A, Class-A Advanced, and Double-A) positioned him to hit the ground running to start 2023.

Yesterday, Scott Lauber from the Philly Inquirer broke the news of Painter’s discomfort.

There has yet to be any word on how serious the tenderness in his elbow is, but since the tests were run earlier Saturday, Painter was in uniform in the dugout for the game the same day against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The team has yet to provide any further details regarding this, but having tenderness in your throwing arm as a pitcher always creates internal chaos with the fans.

Due to the fact that he was in the dugout, in uniform with the team, that seems to be a good sign for the moment, but maybe not long term. The team was concerned enough to send him to have his arm tested.

Even though he is still young and hasn’t played a Triple-A game yet, Painter is in the midst of contending for a possible spot in the Phillies’ rotation. We will keep an eye out for any news regarding Painter and the tests that were run on his elbow earlier today.