PHILADELPHIA -- Andrew Painter stepped out of the Phillies’ dugout shortly before 6 p.m. on Tuesday. He was less than an hour from his highly anticipated MLB debut. The fans that noticed him at Citizens Bank Park applauded as he walked to the bullpen to begin the final preparations for

Andrew Painter was supposed to be Exhibit A for pitching phenoms, not the poster boy for how non-linear baseball development can be. Yet here we are. After a 2022 season that saw him dominate three levels at age 19, Painter was the clear choice for MLB Pipeline Pitching Prospect of

This story was excerpted from Todd Zolecki's Phillies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The Phillies haven’t had a pitching prospect like Andrew Painter since Cole Hamels more than 20 years ago. Hamels couldn't have been more hyped. Then, he won 2008 World Series and NLCS MVP honors, made four All-Star teams, finished top eight in NL Cy Young voting four times and threw

PHILADELPHIA -- Justin Crawford waited 22 years and 72 days for this moment. It took seconds to make the most of it.

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Is it possible for a prospect who is ranked No. 53 on the Top 100 to be considered underrated? How about if he’s a career .322 hitter with a .385 on-base percentage since being taken as a mid-first rounder in 2022? Or averaged 45 stolen bases per season over his

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- The Phillies’ Opening Day roster is coming into focus. Manager Rob Thomson said on Friday that right-hander Andrew Painter made the team. No surprise there. Painter (MLB Pipeline's No. 28 overall prospect) was a near lock to make the 26-man roster entering camp. He will make his

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Gage Wood knows. Philly is different. Wood smiled on Saturday afternoon at BayCare Ballpark, remembering how Phillies fans DM’d him on Instagram in the minutes, days and weeks after the Phils selected him with the 25th overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft. Wood was a hard-throwing

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Andrew Painter entered Phillies camp last month as a lock to make the Opening Day roster. The Phillies made it official on Friday. Phils manager Rob Thomson announced his starting pitchers for the season’s first five games. Cristopher Sánchez, Aaron Nola and Jesús Luzardo will start the

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- The Phillies’ top three prospects could make splashes this season in Philadelphia. Justin Crawford (PHI No. 3, MLB No. 53) is a lock to be the Opening Day center fielder. Andrew Painter (PHI No. 2, MLB No. 28) is a lock to make the rotation. Aidan Miller

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Dante Nori got back to his regular job on Wednesday at Carpenter Complex. He played in a Minor League game against Blue Jays prospects on Ashburn Field. There were more prospects than fans in the stands. In the bottom of the ninth, Nori flied out to left-center

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- The last time the Phillies took a college pitcher in the first round of the Draft, before 2025, was when Aaron Nola was selected No. 7 overall in the 2014 Draft. In the 10 Drafts before the organization took Gage Wood No. 26 overall last year, the

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Phillies pitching coach Caleb Cotham appreciates Andrew Painter's “high aptitude” for pitching. Cotham knows that nobody is going to be perfect all the time. Sometimes a pitcher has to grind to survive.

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- The Phillies insist there is zero concern about top prospect Aidan Miller's back issue. However, there is also no timeline for his return to action. Miller, MLB Pipeline's No. 23 overall prospect, was sent to Philadelphia on Friday to see a team doctor about the recurring back

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- It was more than three years ago that Max Scherzer wrapped up his offseason training with a simple parting message to a then-19-year-old Andrew Painter. "I remember talking about it in 2022, going into '23 [after he had] signed in New York," Painter said. "He was telling

This story was excerpted from Todd Zolecki’s Phillies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

When was the last time a team that annually competes to go to the World Series had two Top 100 prospects not just competing for a job, but expected to be on the Opening Day roster? That's what it looks like is going to happen in Philadelphia to kick off

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Andrew Painter wanted to treat Sunday like it was any other day. It wasn’t, of course. It had been exactly three years since he made his Grapefruit League debut as a 19-year-old Phillies phenom. His start that afternoon against Minnesota in Fort Myers was supposed to be

CLEARWATER, Fla. – Phillies prospect Aidan Miller lightly tossed a baseball against a wall on Saturday morning at BayCare Ballpark. He hasn’t done much more than that lately.

This story was excerpted from Todd Zolecki's Phillies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CLEARWATER, Fla. – Phillies left-hander Jesús Luzardo still remembers seeing Andrew Painter the next day. They were pumped. “All right,” Luzardo said. “We’re on the same team.” “I don’t think I could’ve been happier,” Painter said.

Konnor Griffin's long list of admirers now includes a two-time MVP. In the Pirates' 4-3 Grapefruit League victory over the Phillies on Sunday, MLB's No. 1 prospect laced a 109.1 mph line drive to right field in the top of the sixth inning, and Bryce Harper -- who was doing

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Phillies prospect Aidan Miller has a sore lower back, which is why he didn’t play in the team’s two Grapefruit League games this weekend.

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Phillies first-base coach Paco Figueroa has a 5 a.m. wake-up every day in the spring. He gets to BayCare Ballpark early to work out before others arrive. But last year, he noticed somebody wearing headphones on the turf field just outside the weight room. He couldn’t tell