Philadelphia Phillies Get Very Grim Update on Top Pitching Prospect

Philadelphia Phillies pitching prospect Andrew Painter has fans fearing the worst after this latest elbow update.

Just this week, we heard that the Philadelphia Phillies were hopeful that pitching prospect Andrew Painter would be able to contribute to the team's playoff stretch run.

Now? Phillies fans are holding their breath that he's not going to be sidelined for a long time after a very ominous update.

The following comes from the Rotowire fantasy baseball portal:

Painter will undergo testing due to renewed right elbow discomfort, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com reports.

ANALYSIS
Painter had to be scratched from a throwing session earlier this week due to elbow stiffness, but he was able to return to the mound with a bullpen session Wednesday. However, evidently he did not bounce back as hoped. The young hurler had been working his way back from a partially torn UCL and with this setback the worry now has to be that Tommy John surgery could be looming.

If Painter were to get Tommy John surgery, he will have missed all of 2023 with the partial tear and then the surgery would keep him out nearly all or all of 2024 as well.

He's the No. 1 prospect in the Phillies organization and the No. 10 prospect in all of baseball. The 20-year-old was a first-round pick of the Phillies in the 2021 draft out of the high school ranks.

The following comes from a portion of his MLB.com profile:

Painter has become one of the best pitching prospects in the game thanks to his combination of his size (6-foot-7), stuff and command. He has a four-pitch mix, with three of them having the potential to be plus offerings. It starts with a fastball that now touches triple digits and was averaging over 96 mph even at the end of his first full season, and he can sink a two-seamer as well as elevate a four-seamer with good spin rates up in the zone to miss bats.

The Phillies enter play on Friday at 47-39 and play the Miami Marlins at 6:40 p.m. ET.

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