Andrew Painter made his 2025 debut Friday night for Clearwater just one day after his 22nd birthday. His pitching line – 2 ER in 1.1 IP – wasn’t spectacular but when you look behind the numbers, there was a lot to be happy with for the right-hander, who is coming back from Tommy John surgery.

Overall, Painter threw 37 pitches against Daytona batters over his 1.1 inning stint with 21 of them for strikes. Of the four outs he recorded three came on strikeouts. His two strikeouts in the first inning came on a 92.5 mph cutter and an 85.6 mph slider. He also recorded a groundout on a 92.6 mph cutter to end the inning. Painter needed 24 pitches to get through the first inning giving up one hit, but no runs.

After the Threshers got a run on a home run by Eduardo Tait, Painter came out to pitch the second and things fell apart. After giving up a leadoff single, Painter struck out Luis Reyes on an 82.7 mph slider ahead of a walk to put two runners on base, which ended Painter’s day.

The fact that Painter’s velocity was good is a great sign. On three pitches that all came in the first inning against Carlos Sanchez, Painter hit the 100 mph mark and averaged over 98 mph on his four-seam fastball. The 100 mph pitches came in the span of four pitches to Sanchez; one was fouled off and the other two were balls. Hitters swung and missed nine times in 17 hacks against Painter. Both of the baserunners that Painter allowed in the second inning came around to score leaving him with two earned runs allowed in the outing on two hits – both bloop singles to center – and a walk to go with three strikeouts. His pitch count escalated quickly because of working to full counts on four of the seven hitters he faced.

The Phillies plan for Painter is for him to pitch once a week and keep him around two innings and 35 pitches in each outing. The team plans on limiting his innings and pitches this season and want him to use most of those pitches in the majors later in the season.

Weston Wilson (strained oblique) also played in the game on a rehab assignment and went 0-3 with a walk, a strikeout, and a run scored. Friday night was Wilson’s third game with Clearwater and he is 0-7 with three walks, three strikeouts, and three runs scored.