Cole Hamels is one of the few who can relate to Andrew Painter, and he’s excited to get to work with him

Before Andrew Painter, there was Cole Hamels.

Two decades ago, Hamels arrived in spring training as the Phillies’ Next Big Thing. A first-round draft pick from a San Diego high school, he was a pitching phenom. He added to the billing, too, in his Grapefruit League debut by striking out Derek Jeter, Alex Rodríguez, and Tony Clark in succession in Tampa in 2004.

It will be a full-circle moment, then, when Hamels shows up in Phillies camp this spring as a guest instructor. And there might not be anyone who can better relate to what Painter is facing as a can’t-miss prospect.

“I’m really excited,” Hamels said on the pilot episode of “Phillies Extra,” an addition to The Inquirer’s baseball coverage. “I think for me it’s to see how receptive he is, just because he’s probably had a ton of people, a ton of information thrown his way.”

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Not many, though, have walked in Painter’s shoes.

Hamels was 22 when he made his major-league debut; Painter, who turns 22 in April, is expected to join the Phillies’ rotation this summer. Hamels dealt with early-career injuries, including a broken left arm in high school; Painter is 18 months removed from Tommy John elbow surgery and missed the last two seasons.

But Painter is the Phillies’ most hyped pitching prospect since Hamels, who fulfilled the expectations heaped upon him during a 15-year major-league career in which he was a four-time All-Star and MVP of the 2008 National League Championship Series and World Series.

“He’s got the expectation of being ‘the guy,’” Hamels said of Painter. “He’s having to deal with the adversity of injuries, which do come. I mean, the similarities obviously are there. But what he’s ready for, how he’s handling his build-back [from surgery] with the expectations, there is pressure. It’s just hopefully just giving him the right words for advice and then seeing how he prepares.

“Because you want to get to the big leagues, but you want to be there for a very long time and you want to be able to perform. So, how are you finding that when the last year and a half has been a rehab process. That’s a tough thing to overcome, to finally get out of that mentality of rehab and into, ‘I’m healthy, I’m good to go, and now I need to do this for an extended period of time, year in and year out.’”

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Hamels officially retired last year after multiple attempts to come back from injuries. When the Phillies honored him at Citizens Bank Park in June, he said he was still trying to decide on a career after baseball.

In December, Hamels met with Phillies officials at the winter meetings, which were held near his Dallas home. He accepted an invitation to assist the organization’s pitching department, a role that will enable him to become more familiar with data-driven approaches that weren’t as prevalent when he pitched.

“The game of baseball, it’s constantly going and changing, and you just can’t disappear for too long otherwise you’ll never be able to understand where it’s gone,” said Hamels, who will also try his hand at broadcasting as an analyst for a few games on NBC Sports Philadelphia. “It can take some time to figure out where things are just because technology is definitely taking off. I thought this is the best time. I’m still pretty fresh, with understanding the sort of old-school mentality, but then the transition of the new-school, the analytic part.”

In Painter’s case, Hamels’ experience figures to be a helpful resource.

“I hope he has his own path,” Hamels said. “And I think what I would like to do is to help him create his own path. For me and for everybody, I want him to be better. It’s just being able to push him and nudge him in the right direction. You can see the talent is there, and that’s what’s so impressive. Now it’s a matter of time of him building it up.

“The guy knows how to compete and he’s got plus pitches, so it’s just getting him the work, the load that he needs to do so that the team feels confident that he can handle it in the major leagues.”