Philadelphia Phillies 'Confident' Superstar Prospect Will Contribute Next Season

It seems like the Philadelphia Phillies are expecting one of their superstar prospects to be contributing at the Major League level next season.

Feb 23, 2023; Clearwater, FL, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Andrew Painter (76) during photo day at BayCare Ballpark / Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

After the Philadelphia Phillies had the best starting rotation in Major League Baseball for the majority of the season, all of a sudden there are real question marks about how they are going to approach their fifth starter spot going forward.

When Taijuan Walker initially was placed on the injured list in Spring Training, Spencer Turnbull filled in valiantly to post one of the lowest ERAs on the team until the veteran got healthy enough to return.

But when Walker and Turnbull both went down with injuries, the Phillies began to have a hard time figuring out who to put behind Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Ranger Suarez and Cristopher Sanchez.

Multiple people have gotten a shot from Tyler Phillips to Kolby Allard to Michael Mercado, but with Walker officially being moved into the bullpen after his prolonged struggles forced Philadelphia's hand, it remains a mystery who is going to be their No. 5 going forward.

The good news is they only have to patch things together for one more month since the rotation shrinks when playoff baseball begins, but with the Phillies in a tightly-contested division race, they need to find an answer sooner rather than later.

Going forward, they are intending to not have this issue.

They're hoping Walker is able to find his form during the offseason and become an effective pitcher again, but beyond that, there seems to be a long-term solution the organization is keeping an eye on.

According to Matt Gelb of The Athletic, Philadelphia is expecting their superstar pitching prospect, Andrew Painter, to fully recover from Tommy John surgery that has kept him sidelined for a prolonged period of time and work his way into their Major League rotation in 2025.

"They are optimistic that Andrew Painter, one of the best pitching prospects in baseball, can be a big-league contributor at some point next season ... He threw a bullpen session Thursday in Florida. He remains on track to face hitters in a simulated setting later this year," he reported.

That is huge.

Since being taken No. 13 overall in the 2021 draft, Painter has largely been regarded as one of the best prospects in all of baseball.

After only throwing six innings in rookie ball following his selection, the 6-foot-7 right-hander burst onto the scene in 2022 when he posted a 1.56 ERA in 22 starts across three affiliate levels that included five outings in Double-A.

Across 103.2 innings pitched, he struck out 155 batters, only walking 25, while also holding opposing lineups to a .181 batting average.

Painter was considered the sixth-best prospect in all of baseball during 2023, and even after undergoing Tommy John surgery that has prevented him from pitching in the past two years, he still is ranked inside the top 35.

Having him healthy and available at some point next season will be huge for the Phillies.

At just 21 years old, his ceiling projects to be that of a future ace, giving Philadelphia another star-caliber arm to pair with Wheeler in the next two seasons, and Nola during the length of his seven-year contract.

Of course, all that is predicated on him fully recovering from this procedure.

Painter will certainly be on a pitch limit next season, so he won't be fully unleashed until at least 2026.

Still, if the superstar prospect is at least able to make his comeback and start pitching again, then that is a step in the right direction for him and the entire organization.