Phillies Coach Shares Necessary Changes for Andrew Painter

Philadelphia Phillies rookie Andrew Painter has some areas to improve upon, which the coaching staff is helping him achieve.

May 24, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Andrew Painter (24) throws a pitch against the Cleveland Guardians at Citizens Bank Park. | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

There was a lot of excitement and expectations surrounding Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Andrew Painter coming into the 2026 season.

A highly-touted prospect, he was on the verge of making his Big League debut in 2023 before an elbow injury led to Tommy John surgery. He missed that year and virtually all of 2024, getting back on the mound for the Arizona Fall League for six appearances.

In 2025, he spent the entire campaign with Triple-A Lehigh Valley, where he struggled to a 5.40 ERA across 106.2 innings pitched. Things have been even worse in 2026 during his debut campaign.

Through 12 appearances and 58 innings, Painter has a brutal 6.21 ERA. He has allowed 72 hits and walked 19 batters with only 47 strikeouts. 11 home runs have been surrendered as well, but the coaching staff believes they have found some areas of his game to help improve and get him on track.

Coaching staff working closely with Andrew Painter to improve finish

Jun 6, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Andrew Painter (24) throws a pitch against the Chicago White Sox during the first inning at Citizens Bank Park. | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Listed at 6-foot-7, Painter has underwhelming extension on his 6.5 feet of extension, which is middle of the road in the 51st percentile. Getting more extension isn’t the sole focus of the coaching staff, but they do believe he can get more out of his arsenal, improving how he finishes in the final 5-10%.

“Getting out there and getting to one side, finishing his hand, taking his hand through the glove — all these things we can say as opposed to kind of just being over-rotational and ripping across,” Phillies pitching coach Caleb Cotham said, via Charlotte Varnes and Matt Gelb of The Athletic (subscription required). “That’s what I’ve seen get a lot better: managing his posture, his move down the mound. It’s getting better and better — closer to what it was pre-surgery.”

Thus far, these changes haven’t yielded positive results on the mound yet. In his last two starts against the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox, Painter threw only eight innings but allowed 15 hits and issued three walks, resulting in 10 earned runs being scored against him.

Colson Montgomery goes yard for the 16th time as the White Sox are handing it to struggling Phillies rookie Andrew Painter pic.twitter.com/UhyaTA0OVl

— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) June 6, 2026

The long ball has hurt him, allowing four in those last two games. He did look okay against the Dodgers before J.T. Realmuto was forced out of the lineup mid-game because of injury, as his numbers pitching to Rafael Marchan and Garrett Stubbs are much worse than working with Realmuto.

Alas, the veteran catcher was behind the plate against the White Sox, and the results were just as underwhelming.

Currently owning the worst ERA amongst qualified rookies, Painter has a lot of work to do. It is still way too early to give up on him, so hopefully these latest adjustments will start to unlock the stuff in his arsenal pre-injury that led to him being such a highly-ranked prospect.