Phillies’ Andrew Painter Working on Mechanics, Pitching With Authority

After the Phillies demoted him to Triple-A Lehigh Valley on June 18, 2021 first round pick Andrew Painter appeared to take a step in the right direction, allowing just two runs in ten innings across two starts with the IronPigs.

His third start with Lehigh Valley marked a step back, however, as Painter fired just 38 of 70 pitches for strikes, walking four batters and allowing seven earned runs in 2.2 innings. He also committed a throwing error, spiking a pickoff attempt past second base and into the outfield. 

Painter has endured a roller coaster this season, making the Phillies’ big league roster out of spring training before struggling to a 7.06 ERA that saw him sent back to the minors. That’s a tough pill to swallow for any athlete, especially a first round pick ranked as the No. 28 prospect in all of baseball to start the season. 

The 23-year-old right-hander maintains a mature, even-keeled approach, however, and gave a candid breakdown of what went wrong during his July 10 start against the Columbus Clippers. Painter said he struggled to locate his secondary pitches, forcing him to rely on the fastball. That, in turn, allowed the Clippers to pounce on the offering.

“Curveball, threw a couple of those early, but never truly established anything outside of the fastball,” Painter said. “Threw a couple sweepers that felt good but never really got the hard slider going. The fastball, it was decent today when it was on guys early and I kinda had that leverage. We could see they were sitting on the fastball and kinda trying to ambush it.”

Pitching With Authority

Command varies from start to start — and even from inning to inning — for every pitcher, but Painter acknowledged that he made his own job harder. Two of the walks he issued came after taking an 0-2 lead, at which point he started to nibble outside the strike zone instead of challenging batters.

“In the past I think I’ve gotten a little too greedy with the strikeouts where I know I have that kind of leverage. Move pitches off the plate a little more, and they end up being noncompetitive,” Painter said. “That’s where you fall back into those 2-2, 3-2 counts. So I’ve just gotta be more aggressive with those two-strike pitches and make them hit it rather than try to make them chase.”

In describing how those free passes came back to haunt him, Painter referenced his struggles this season with refreshing candor, no hint of bitterness as he assessed what has and hasn’t gone right for him.

“You’ve just gotta control the things that you can control. Four walks, like I said, that’s the biggest thing, especially with two being from an 0-2 count,” Painter said. “The hits are gonna happen. You’re gonna give up singles here and there, you’re gonna give up doubles, but just being able to control those free 90s. I feel like every single walk I’ve had this year, it seems like they come around to score.”

Getting Back to Basics

Painter also described his areas of focus since returning to Triple-A, describing how his once-reliable changeup doesn’t have the consistency he expects… and how he’s tinkering to change that.

“Third changeup grip in four starts, so I mean just trying to find something there. Didn’t have any feel for the changeup, spraying it all over, so kind of eliminated that from the arsenal,” Painter said.

“The changeup was really good for me last year, really good at the beginning of this year, but started cutting it and was throwing some weird ones, so we had to get away from that and find something that’s a little more consistent from a shape perspective. I was throwing ones that were cutting, other ones that were diving, so it’s just hard to command it when you don’t know exactly what it’s gonna do. So we’re looking for the consistent shape, and that’s something you’ve got to feel out. It’s a feel pitch, so just need to get more reps with that.”

Painter also said that he’s working on his delivery as he looks to return to form.

“We’re working on mechanical things, that’s been a big emphasis coming down here. Trying to eliminate some of the cut, the pull on the ball, I’m pulling the ball more than I ever have,” Painter said. “We believe that a lot of those mechanical things correlate to velo and command. Obviously didn’t command the ball tonight, but I know the velo was up a little bit. So just continue to hone in on those things and trust that process.”