The ‘rehab mustache’ is gone as the Phillies’ Andrew Painter begins the next step in his return
Coming off a dominant Arizona Fall League showing, Painter is not expected to pitch in the Grapefruit League as the Phillies try to save his innings for a mid-summer call-up.
CLEARWATER, Fla. — One sure sign that Andrew Painter has taken the next step in his recovery from Tommy John surgery: His "rehab mustache" is gone.
“We got rid of it. Just woke up and it walked away one morning,” said a clean-shaven Painter in the BayCare Ballpark clubhouse on Thursday.
Painter, 21, had previously taken an even bigger step in October by pitching his first competitive innings in almost two years at the Arizona Fall League. Painter, the Phillies' top pitching prospect, underwent a reconstruction of the ulnar collateral ligament along with ulnar nerve transposition surgery in his right elbow in July 2023 after first feeling soreness that spring.
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Painter’s 2.30 ERA and 18 strikeouts across 15⅔ innings in the Arizona Fall League nabbed him Pitcher of the Year honors, but the bigger accomplishment was gaining some peace of mind.
“Going out there, seeing hitters, just a game atmosphere,” Painter said. “Getting under the lights, a real umpire back there; not just live [at-bats] on the back field. So then it makes me more confident rolling into spring training, and rolling into this year having it under my belt.”
Over the two-year layoff from competition and the rehab process, Painter said the most difficult thing was dealing with boredom. Besides growing a mustache, he tackled that by building up his strength.
“It’s kind of like a two-year offseason,” he said. “And you just get to lift and strengthen the shoulder and just get in the weight room and get after it for two years. So I feel good.”
He also spoke to other players rehabbing from Tommy John surgery at the same time as him, including former Phillies reliever Luis Ortiz.
Unlike the last time Painter was a nonroster invitee to spring training in 2023, he’s not competing for a spot on the opening-day roster. Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said that while Painter will throw on a regular basis at the team complex during camp, he is not expected to appear in Grapefruit League games. Instead, the Phillies have tailored a plan for him to prioritize his health and save his innings for a potential big-league call-up in the summer.
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“With the AFL, I was kind of pushing to do that,” Painter said. “They’re open to hearing my opinion on it, what I want to do, but I leave most of it up to them. And if there’s something that I don’t like, obviously I’ll speak up.”
Dombrowski said it’s likely Painter will face live hitters at some point during spring training, and may near a point where he could pitch some innings in extended spring training after the main camp ends.
“I’m extremely excited to have him getting close to pitching at the major league level,” Dombrowski said. “And I think he has a chance to be an exceptional pitcher at the big-league level. He has the potential to be a No. 1, top-of-the-rotation-type starter. Now, maybe he wouldn’t be ours right off the bat — we’ve got some pretty good ones. But he has that type of potential for the long term.”
In the meantime, Painter is working on his changeup. His fastball looked back to form in the Fall League, topping out at 100 mph. He also tested out a new slider. It’s a harder pitch, a variation of the cutter he had been tinkering with in 2023 camp with a new grip, and replaces his former, sweepy slider. Painter’s change-up is next on the list for improvement.
And without any game appearances for him immediately on the horizon, Painter’s overall goals for camp are simple.
“Just be present,” Painter said. “Just listen to the guys and see how they go about their days and learn from them.”
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The location of his locker in the clubhouse will help him to that end. While most of the other prospects are grouped together, Painter’s stall is situated in a cluster of big-leaguers, near Matt Strahm, Taijuan Walker, Zack Wheeler, and Aaron Nola.
“He looks really good,” Nola said. “He’s still so young, but he walks around and he acts older than he is, which is really cool. It’s going to be good to see him at spring training.”