PHILADELPHIA -- Andrew Painter's first stint in the Majors didn't go as planned.
So with more questions than answers at this point, the Phillies decided it was time for the former top prospect to take a step back. They optioned him to Triple-A Lehigh Valley shortly after his latest setback in Wednesday afternoon's loss to the Marlins.
One day later, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski sat in the home dugout at Citizens Bank Park trying his best to offer up answers on what comes next for the once-highly touted 23-year-old pitcher.
“It’s difficult," Dombrowski said of the decision to send down Painter. “But [we've] sent many good pitchers down, many good players down, and they go down and they get reset and come back and do well. So that's what our goals are, and what we think will happen with him.”
Of course, the key question is how the Phillies will make that happen. For now, Painter will not pitch in a game for the next seven to 10 days. He'll instead throw an extra bullpen session or two before taking the mound for the IronPigs.
The Phillies have some ideas on how to get Painter going. They've already implemented some of them. They've even seen progress in some of his recent bullpen sessions between starts.
“But you have to carry it over to the game,” Dombrowski acknowledged.
Nobody knows that better than Painter, who has taken the struggles hard -- particularly after his past few outings.
“He was understanding,” Dombrowski said. “Sitting there talking to him, it wasn't like he said, 'Why?' He said, 'I have to get better, I have to do better. I understand that. I'm ready to go out and do what I need to do.'”
Despite insisting his confidence had not wavered at all for much of the season, Painter finally relented after Wednesday's outing, saying it's “about as good as it can right now under the circumstances.”
“I'm just trying to find out who I am as a pitcher right now,” Painter said.
The Phillies are trying to find that out, too.
They still believe he's going to be an impact pitcher for the franchise -- and they hope that starts later this season.
“I think it was the best thing for him,” interim manager Don Mattingly said. “ … He's not the first guy this has happened to. Probably 90% of guys are coming and going back. Very few guys just come and stick, and never see the Minor Leagues again.”
The Phillies had no choice but to go that route with Painter after he put up a 7.06 ERA over his first 65 big league innings. Despite brief glimpses of his potential, Painter mostly struggled to command most of his pitches -- particularly his fastball.
A few years ago, that four-seamer had three-time All-Star Carlos Correa predicting Painter was bound for stardom. Fast forward four seasons -- two of which Painter missed entirely after undergoing Tommy John surgery -- and opponents are hitting .404 (38-for-94) with a .660 slugging percentage against that same pitch.
“It's gotten a little better than what it was, but still obviously not to the extent of what it was pre-[Tommy John surgery],” Painter said. “So just trying to make adjustments and figure out what's going to have the most success.”
Added Dombrowski: “Sometimes it takes a while to come back [from Tommy John] and be quite as effective.”
The Phillies do believe they have identified at least part of the issue. While so much has been made about the lack of extension generated by the 6-foot-7 Painter, some of that stems from taking an indirect path to the plate.
That's not always the case, but therein lies another problem: Painter's delivery hasn't been consistent from pitch to pitch.
“Most of it's delivery-oriented is what it comes down to,” Dombrowski said. “Because when he's done some things with his delivery -- going more directly to the plate rather than spinning off -- he's had more life. And you see it at times ... but not on a consistent basis.”
That lack of consistency led to too many abbreviated starts, though none shorter than Wednesday's two-inning outing. With the bullpen once again taxed, the Phillies brought in two fresh arms -- Bryse Wilson and Seth Johnson -- for Thursday's series opener vs. the Mets. Left-hander Tanner Banks was also optioned to Lehigh Valley alongside Painter.
It's unclear what the Phillies will do with Painter's rotation spot when it comes up next week. Wilson is an option, but not if he's needed out of the 'pen this weekend.
Another option is deploying a bullpen game, though that's obviously not ideal.
“For me, it's not really the best scenario, because you're taxing your bullpen every five days,” Mattingly said. “But if the guy's starting and going out and only throwing four or five [innings], it's kind of the same thing -- so they're not terrible, but I prefer not to.”
However the Phillies ultimately choose to fill Painter's spot, they hope it's only temporary.
“I don't think any of us doubt that he can pitch here, and I don't think there's anybody in our organization that doubts that he's going to be really good at some point,” Mattingly said. “And I think he feels that way, too. It's just a matter of ironing things out.”