The Philadelphia Phillies have been attempting to dig themselves out of the deep hole that they’ve found themselves in to start the season. After firing Rob Thomson and promoting bench coach Don Mattingly to manager, the Phillies appear to be stabilizing.
In the 13 games since Don Mattingly has taken over, the Phillies are 10-3 and have won four straight series. Kyle Schwarber has been on a home run tear, Brandon Marsh leads the league in batting average, and Cris Sanchez is looking like a Cy Young candidate once again.
One player, however, who has gone off track lately is the Phillies’ 23-year-old top pitching prospect, Andrew Painter. However, Mattingly doesn’t believe alarm bells should be sounding just yet for the rookie.
Patience
Andrew Painter, after a promising debut performance, has struggled to adjust to the MLB. He is 1-4 with a 6.89 ERA. Against the Athletics in his last start, the wheels really seemed to come off.
In his last outing, Painter gave up seven hits, three home runs, and eight earned runs in a 12-1 Phillies loss to the Athletics. Painter has given up a home run in four straight outings and has had more walks than strikeouts in three out of his last four outings. Still, Phillies manager Don Mattingly is not overtly concerned about the young pitcher’s recent speed bumps.
Cole Weintraub of NBC Philadelphia wrote in his May 7 article about Mattingly’s reaction to Painter’s poor start.
“I think he’s been fine,” Mattingly said. “Obviously, you want him to keep getting better and keep improving. I think as the season goes, he’s just going to continue to gain confidence and command.”
Mattingly believes Painter hasn’t been broken by his rough starts and will bounce back, but to do that, he will need to regain control of his fastball.
Fixing His Fastball
The root of many of Andrew Painter’s struggles of late has been the poor command of his fastball. One of the top pitches in his arsenal has been rendered ineffective as of late.
Todd Zolecki of MLB.com, in his May 7 article, highlighted just how much Painter’s fastball has been struggling of late.
“Painter throws six pitches, but his fastballs have not been effective,” Zolecki wrote. “Batters entered Thursday hitting .348 against his four-seam and two-seam fastballs, which ranked 19th highest out of 136 pitchers (minimum 200 fastballs thrown).”
Shea Langeliers, Brent Rooker, and Jacob Wilson all homered off inside fastballs against Painter. The lack of movement on his fastball has been an issue, but Painter believes he is still headed in the right direction to fix his issues, despite the lack of results.
“Specfically, the last two starts, I think the shape has been a lot better,” Painter said. “I made a couple tweaks. It’s definitely been flying better. The results haven’t been there. But like I said, it’s probably the process and the setup. I think probably moving in and out a little more. I think throwing the four[-seam] outside will help that.”
If the Phillies want to make a run at the playoffs, despite their slow start, then the evolution of Painter as a starter over the course of the season will be necessary for the Phillies to get there.
Phillies Manager Not Concerned With Andrew Painter’s Struggles