It’s been a week now since Andrew Painter was optioned to Lehigh Valley. He still has a few days to wait until he makes his first start this season in the minors. Painter, 23, will start Sunday at Coca-Cola Park for Lehigh Valley when the wrap up their series against the Syracuse Mets.
“I’m assuming it’s going to be somewhat of a full start, being down 10 days,” Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly told reporters Wednesday.
Painter has been doing side work and working with IronPigs pitching coach Phil Cundari since arriving back in the Lehigh Valley where he pitched last season. The Phillies optioned him after he opened the season 1-8 with a 7.06 ERA in 14 outings. Twice Painter pitched after an opener started the game; once because he had a migraine that he recovered from and pitched later in the game, and once as the Phillies attempted to find some way of pulling him out of his malaise.
The Phillies have stressed that they have not given up on Painter, nor should they. Many pundits believe the issue is more mental than anything. Much of the problem comes from Painter being too aware of not walking hitters, so he then tries to be too perfect and his pitches stay over the plate and flatten out. The result was giving up 14 home runs during his first trip to the majors to start the season.
The return to Lehigh Valley
Painter spent last season with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs and struggled to find success in his first season back from Tommy John surgery. In 22 starts for Lehigh Valley, Painter finished 5-6, 5.40 and walked 46 hitters in 106.2 innings of work. He did strike out 111 hitters, but the walk rate and 18 home runs allowed were high.
His main issues were locating his fastball and facing left-handers. Left-handers hit .287 against him while right-handed batters hit .262 during his 2025 season. Even at the Triple-A level last season opponents would stack the lineup with left-handed bats to maximize their odds of success against the right-hander.
With the Phillies, Painter showed the same types of issues, but allowed more home runs during his first trip to the majors.
A heavy dose of New Yorkers
Tuesday night, the Syracuse Mets had a third of their lineup consisting of major league players who were on rehab assignments.
Francisco Lindor was leading off and playing at shortstop, Tyrone Taylor was batting second and playing center field and Ronny Mauricio was at third base and hit third in the lineup.
All three had hits against IronPigs pitching. Lindor was 2-for-5 with two runs scored, Taylor went 3-for-5 and had three-quarters of a cycle with a single, double, and home run. He also drove in two runs and scored three times. Mauricio was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, a run scored, and three runs driven in.
The following day, Lindor was activated and returned to the Mets, Mauricio was activated and optioned to Syracuse, and Taylor is continuing his rehab assignment with Syracuse.
Please scroll down to comment on this story or to give it a rating. We appreciate your feedback!
Disclaimer: Some of the products featured or linked on this website may generate income for Philly Baseball News through affiliate commissions, sponsorships, or direct sales. We only promote items we believe in, but please assume that PBN may earn a cut from qualifying purchases that you make using a link on this site.
© 2026 LV Sports Media. All rights reserved.
