Top Philadelphia Phillies Prospect Gets Compared to Future Hall of Famer

Who did the top pitching prospect from the Philadelphia Phillies get compared to?

Nick Ziegler | Feb 20, 2025

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

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Philadelphia Phillies

With Spring Training kicking off for the Philadelphia Phillies, the franchise will be looking forward to getting back to the postseason and making up for their tough early exit last season.

Coming into the winter, the Phillies had a few needs to address to help fix some of their issues. Despite not making a massive splash, they had a strong offseason by surrounding their already talented core with some complimentary pieces.

Even though the starting rotation wasn’t an issue in the postseason, they did have a glaring hole with their fifth starter during the campaign.

The struggles of former All-Star Taijuan Walker resulted in Philadelphia being behind the eight-ball any time he took the mound for a start. The right-hander was one of the worst starters in baseball, and the Phillies knew coming into the winter that he needed to be replaced.

Even though they are stuck paying him for the next two seasons, they did make an upgrade to their rotation with the addition of Jesus Luzardo. The talented left-hander might not only help Philadelphia in 2025, but as a young starter, he might be in the plans as well.

The trade for Luzardo was a surprising one for Philadelphia, but one that certainly improves the team.

What made the deal a bit surprising was that there is a top prospect in the organization who is expected to be coming up to the Majors in 2025 at some point.

Kiley McDaniel of ESPN.com recently spoke about the top 100 prospects in baseball. For the Phillies, he spoke about starter Andrew Painter and compared the young right-hander to future Hall of Famer, Justin Verlander.

It doesn’t get too much better as a pitcher than being compared to Verlander. Even though the right-hander had a down year with the Houston Astros in 2024, he has been one of the best pitchers in baseball for nearly the last two decades.

After missing the entire 2023 season in the minors with back surgery, Painter was able to pitch in the Fall League in 2024 to knock off some of the rust.

The former first-round pick was very impressive with a 2.30 ERA in 15 innings pitched coming off missing so much time.

Due to him not getting a lot of innings in the last two years, Philadelphia would be wise to be patient with the talented young right-hander. With a strong starting staff in place, there is no need to rush Painter at all this season.

After drawing comparisons to Verlander, the former first-round pick will be worth the wait for the Phillies.

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