The Phillies made their selections for their Minor League Players of the Month for the month of April, honoring two young players for their offense and pitching and another for their courage and perserverance in the face of tough battles.
Hitter of the Month
Lehigh Valley IronPigs first baseman Darick Hall was the easy choice. The 26-year old hit 9-28-.284/.364/.682 in 23 games. His hitting has continued into the month of May as he currently leads the International League with 31 RBI.
The hot start is a contrast to last season when Hall hit just .123 in the first month and struggled again in June, hitting just .200 with Lehigh Valley. It wasn’t until July that Hall started to heat up and by the end of the season he was at 14-60-.230 with the IronPigs.
Pitcher of the Month
Much like Hall, the choice for Pitcher of the Month was an easy one with Andrew Painter, 19, being dominant for the Clearwater Threshers. The right-hander threw 12 innings in the month of April and allowed just one hit and kept opponents from crossing the plate. Of the 43 batters that he faced in April, Painter struck out 30 of them for the Threshers.
Painter was the Phillies 13th overall pick in the 2021 Draft. Painter is 6′ 7″ and was drafted out of Calvary Christian Academy in Florida, gaining a $3.9-million signing bonus. In 2021, Painter pitched in the Florida Complex League for the Philies and didn’t allow a run in six innings of work.
Co-Pitcher of the Month
Corey Phelan has yet to throw a pitch in the 2022 season. The 19-year old left-hander signed as a free agent with the Phillies in August of 2020 and is sidelined by non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. The diagnosis came last month and is currently undergoing treatment for the disease in New York.
In five outings as a teammate of Painter’s in the Florida Complex League last season, Phelan posted a 0.93 ERA over 9 2/3 innings of work. Phelan pitched high school ball for Harborfields High School in Greenlawn, NY.