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Phillies share good news on injured top pitching prospect
Phillies share good news on injured top pitching prospect,It's still too soon to tell when Andrew Painter might make his MLB debut, but the rotation could certainly use the help.

Phillies share good news on injured top pitching prospect

Philadelphia Phillies top pitching prospect Andrew Painter is on the mend.

According to a report from NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Corey Seidman, the righty has resumed throwing this week after being shut down for over one month. Painter underwent an MRI in early March after his first and only spring training start and was diagnosed with a right UCL sprain.

Prior to the injury, the recently turned 20-year-old was looking to become the first teenager to play for the Phillies since 1980 and join top-of-the-rotation hurlers Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler to form a formidable group. Painter was MLB.com’s No. 6 overall prospect (and top pitching prospect) entering 2023.

Per Seidman’s report, Painter “played catch out to 45 feet on Monday and Wednesday” and will “increase to 60 feet” on Friday.

“He’ll play catch every other day and keep ramping up the distance,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said, according to Seidman.

The tantalizing talent went 6-2 with a 1.56 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and 155-to-25 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 22 starts covering 103.2 innings pitched across three levels of minor league baseball last season (including Double-A Reading).

Lefty Ranger Suarez joins Painter on the shelf — he is also recovering from an elbow injury — and is expected to throw a bullpen session on Friday.

Filling in for Painter and Suarez at the back end of the projected rotation have been Matt Strahm and Bailey Falter, who have the best ERAs (0.00 and 2.61, respectively) and WHIPs (0.70 and 1.06) through the team’s first 11 games. Nola is 0-2 with a 7.04 ERA in three starts, Wheeler is 0-1 with a 5.59 ERA in two games and new acquisition Taijuan Walker has a 1.66 WHIP in his first two games.

Philadelphia (4-7) is ahead of only the Oakland Athletics in team WHIP (1.59) and has the fourth-worst team ERA in baseball at 5.65, which is the worst in the Senior Circuit.

It’s still too soon to tell when Painter might make his MLB debut, but the rotation could certainly use the help.