What Andrew Painter and J.T. Realmuto Said About His Impressive Spring Debut

Andrew Painter's first spring start in three years went swimmingly with two quick innings, six up and six down against a Yankees lineup filled with lefties.

It might've actually been a bit too efficient.

"I thought his command was great. They were putting the ball in play pretty quickly so we weren't able to work on as many pitches as we'd like to," catcher J.T. Realmuto told Tom McCarthy and Ruben Amaro Jr. during a seventh-inning interview.

"But that's a good sign — early, weak outs."

Lots of good stuff from the whole staff today 👏 pic.twitter.com/mLrw7aLLyL
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) March 1, 2026

Painter threw 14 pitches in the first inning, striking out the final hitter of the inning, Jasson Dominguez, to end an eight-pitch at-bat.

He needed only six pitches in the second inning, inducing a flyout, groundout and lineout on two pitches apiece.

The whole arsenal

Painter used six different pitches: four-seam fastball, sinker, curveball, changeup, slider and sweeper. He threw the sinker, slider and sweeper once apiece. The sweeper is a different pitch than the slider, 4.5 mph slower with more horizontal movement.

He spotted his heater well and averaged 96.8 with it.

"The fastball looked really good," Realmuto said. "He beat some really good fastball hitters today in the zone with his fastball. That's a really good sign. If he's able to do that all year long, we're going to be in a good place."

Painter spoke, too, on the broadcast after exiting.

"First time in three years. Anytime you go that long without doing stuff it gets the juices flowing," he said. "Just trying to get ahead early, not fall behind. That was an issue I fell into last year. Just get ahead, get into pitchers' counts and go finish guys."

The long road to Sunday

It was hard not to notice or mention the symbolism of this start coming exactly three years to the day of Painter's last Grapefruit League appearance. That day, March 1, 2023, Painter pitched two innings and flashed 99 mph against the Twins in Fort Myers, impressing several big-league hitters. The game was not televised, which only added to the mystique of a 19-year-old top pitching prospect Phillies fans couldn't wait to see.

The rest is well-documented. Painter injured his elbow that afternoon and underwent Tommy John surgery five months later after a conservative rehab program didn't work. He missed all of the 2023 and '24 seasons.

Last year, 2025, was a learning experience for Painter, even though it didn't culminate with the major-league debut most expected. He threw 118 innings in his first full season as a pro. That was important in building up his season-long stamina. He also was not in the strike zone nearly enough, and as a result, fell behind in counts and had to come over the middle more, which led to the most hittable year of his life.

Better to experience failure for the first time at Triple A as opposed to the majors.

"When he's right and feeling good," Realmuto said last month on the Takeoff with John Clark podcast, "he's kind've like (Zack) Wheeler where his stuff is so elite but he's still able to throw it on the edges."