MIAMI — The Phillies opened Spring Training believing Andrew Painter might make their Opening Day roster. Then they hoped he might simply pitch for them this season.
Now it’s honest to marvel when the 20-year-old right-hander will throw off a mound once more.
Painter, who’s Philadelphia’s high prospect and the No. 10 prospect in baseball per MLB Pipeline, is present process testing due to proper elbow “discomfort,” supervisor Rob Thomson mentioned earlier than Friday’s sequence opener in opposition to the Marlins. Thomson declined to say what assessments Painter wanted. He additionally mentioned he didn’t know when take a look at outcomes can be obtainable.
But Painter’s newest setback is regarding. He sprained the proximal ulnar collateral ligament in his proper elbow on March 1 in his extremely anticipated Grapefruit League debut in Fort Myers, Fla. A sprain means there’s a tear within the ligament, however the Phillies and Painter’s representatives had been hopeful that he might keep away from surgical procedure with relaxation and a sluggish rehab. The shared confidence got here from the very fact Painter suffered a proximal UCL tear, somewhat than a distal UCL tear. Essentially, the placement of Painter’s damage was necessary. In one research, 17 of 19 pitchers (89.5 p.c) with partial proximal tears returned to pitch with out surgical procedure, whereas solely 4 of 13 pitchers (30.8 p.c) with distal tears did.
Painter began throwing bullpen classes in Clearwater, Fla., a bit of greater than a month in the past. He was progressing properly till this week. He was scheduled to face hitters for the primary time on Tuesday, nevertheless it by no means occurred as a result of he felt soreness within the elbow.
Painter threw a bullpen session on Wednesday. The soreness remained.
“I’m concerned,” Thomson mentioned. “You’re always concerned when guys are sore. We’ll know more after we get the tests back.”
It appears nearly sure that Painter might be shut down from throwing for the foreseeable future, though Thomson declined to say it.
“We’ll just see,” Thomson mentioned. “We’re going to be careful with him, obviously, but we’ll see once we get the test results.”
Painter’s agent is Scott Boras, who has expressed his issues concerning the Phillies pushing Painter an excessive amount of too early.
“When you have a precocious talent when their bodies are growing — when they have elite, No. 1 starter ability — you have to take great precautions to reserve that skill for when there’s a union between his skill and his strength and his body,” Boras mentioned in early May at Dodger Stadium. “That timeframe varies among players, but the normal element of it is you see a lot of college pitchers that are arriving in the big leagues at 23 and 24 with 140, 150 innings. That’s your [Max] Scherzer, [Stephen] Strasburg, [Gerrit] Cole group. Follow those models.”
Right now, Painter, the Phillies and Boras are merely hoping for excellent news.
Content Source: www.mlb.com