Mar 1, 2026; Clearwater, Florida, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Andrew Painter (76) throws a pitch against the New York Yankees in the second inning during spring training at BayCare Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Garrett Stubbs caught Andrew Painter in most of his starts at Triple-A Lehigh Valley last season, so he has a good idea of what Painter likes to throw in certain spots.
So, when Painter shook him off on a 2-2 count with two outs and a runner on first in the bottom of the second inning on Friday he was a little bit surprised.
Painter had just thrown a change up to Baltimore Orioles shortstop Jose Barerro that was fouled off.
Right-handed pitchers don't usually throw changeups to right-handed batters, so Stubbs figured that was a one-and-done situation.
Until it wasn't.
"I called every other pitch," Stubbs said. "That's when he stepped off. When he stepped back on I was like, 'Change up?' He's like, 'Yeah.' I'm like, OK, all right. Let it rip again - And he struck him out."
Andrew Painter's day is done after 2.2 innings of work. He got 11 whiffs on the day.
Velo went down in the third inning Orioles hitters were able to do some damage. #Phillies definitely are pacing Painter, will be watching the fastball shape closely going forward. pic.twitter.com/eeYe1Y8rIT
It's all about confidence with young pitchers and Painter has confidence in all his pitches, including his change up, which is often fourth in line with his repertoire.
Or is it?
"Go look at reports," Stubbs said. "Guys aren't throwing right-on0right or left-on-left change ups all that often, especially when it's your fourth pitch. But maybe it's not his fourth pitch anymore. I don't know. After seeing what he did today, I would say that's a pitch that he can use pretty often with he way it was coming out of his hand."
Manager Rob Thomson said that Painter intended on using the change-up more in his third start this spring, which came in a laboriously long 11-8 Phillies win at BayCare Ballpark, and that he liked what he saw out of Painter's changeup.
"It's got a lot of bottom to it," Thomson said. "There's some swing and miss there and it has good arm speed to it. It's a really good speed off his fastball. It's going to be an effective pitch for him."
There was some hand-wringing about Painter's first two outings this spring, even though he did not allow a run. He only had one strikeout in the two starts combined and yielded a lot of contact, not generating much swing and miss on his pitches.
Friday was the opposite.
Painter only lasted 2 2/3 innings and gave up three earned runs, but he got a lot of swings and missed and struck out four.
He was especially effective in the first two innings, and struck out the side in the second. But he started to give up some harder hit balls in the third inning, including a monster home run by Orioles uber-prospect Samuel Basallo.
Samuel Basallo crushes his first home run of #SpringTraining 💥 pic.twitter.com/PYdzYEDDYV
That homer wouldn't have happened had Stubbs challenged a pitch that was a strike just before the homer, as Painter would have punched out Basallo. Instead, the ball went a long, long way on the next pitch.
"I fell behind early (in the third inning) and that causes me to get a little aim-y with everything and that causes everything to slow down.
"Everything moves better when it's quick, when it's upbeat, when the tempo is fast. It was causing me to get a little aim-y and I just have to kind of trust my stuff."
Painter looked like he trusted about everything in the first two innings, especially that change up.
It was likely that he was starting to feel some fatigue in the third inning, although he said he felt fine. But the Phillies had him capped at 34 pitches prior to Friday, when he threw 60, which is a bigger jump than usual in the methodical progression employed with pitchers in Spring Training.
He also had two long battles with Baltimore's shiny new toy Pete Alonso.
Alonso won both - beating a diving Bryson Stott for a ground ball single in the first inning, and than lacing a single over the head of a leaping Stott in the third.
Alonso alone faced 14 of the 60 pitches Painter threw.
"He's hard to predict," Painter said. "You don't really know what he's doing up there. I thought I made some really good pitches - some fastballs up - he just put good swings on them."
The first one was a fastball up and out of the strike zone that Alonso fisted into right field. The second caught too much of the plate and was a tick slower than most of his fastballs have been this spring, dipping to 95.8 mph.
Regardless, the Phillies are pleased with where he's at with two starts left before the regular season begins.
Thomson said that his next start will see Painter pushed to between 75 and 80 pitches and then one final tune up before he gets to make his Big League debut - likely in the second series of the year against the Washington Nationals at Citizen Bank Park.
"He's showing his poise and he's showing he has the mentality of a Big Leaguer," Thomson said. "I think that going through the trials and tribulations that he went through last year has helped him. That may sound funny, but it does (help). He's always had success, so last year was a way of teaching him that when you have failure you can come back and pitch well."
