Phillies' top prospect Andrew Painter makes Lehigh Valley IronPigs debut with help from Garrett Stubbs
Andrew Painter said he didn't have that many nerves making his first start for Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Garrett Stubbs called him out on that.
"He's a liar," Stubbs said with a smile. "I think he was a little bit nervous...I get nervous before games. I don't care if it's in Triple-A, Double-A, big leagues. It's not scared nerves. That's just wanting to do well. That's part of being a competitor."
Painter shows a calm demeanor to the untrained eye, part of why he's able to battle through adversity when it's up against him. That was tested in the third inning of his debut in Lehigh Valley. The Phillies' top prospect retired the first two batters in that third inning before walking three consecutive hitters to load the bases with two outs.
The inning could have gone off the rails.
"Adversity is something you always want to work yourself out of, "Painter said in a calming voice. "There's no one coming to save you."
Stubbs revealed that wasn't the case at that moment. Walking three batters in a row isn't what Painter does.
"He was obviously really pissed," Stubbs said. "But before the game, I told him, there's gonna be some time during this game that something doesn't go the way that we want. Something is gonna happen, so you're gonna have to be a man and be a competitor. He was gonna have to figure a way out of it."
With the bases loaded, Painter faced Red Sox catcher Blake Sabol with the IronPigs holding a one-run lead. He got into his fourth consecutive three-ball count against Sabol, being down 3-1 before throwing three consecutive fastballs to save the inning. Painter threw a called strike to cut the count to 3-2, then Sabol fouled off a 96.6 mph fastball to extend the at-bat.
With the Lehigh Valley crowd on their feet, Painter got Sabol to pop up to first baseman Christian Arroyo on a 95.6 mph fastball to end the inning. He threw four three-ball counts, all in that third inning with two outs.
"That was the moment I was talking about where he had to nut up and get through it," Stubbs said. "I told him that when he got into the dugout. I love that he was pissed. I was glad, that's him competing out there."
Painter didn't have the dominant outing many have grown accustomed to, yet he was efficient in his first start for the IronPigs. He didn't allow a run in his three innings of work, throwing 60 pitches (34 of which were strikes). The plan was for Painter to either go 60-65 pitches or four innings in his first start.
In those three innings, Painter allowed one hit and struck out five, all via the curveball. His fastball touched 98 mph twice in the first inning and hit 97.7 mph in the third.
"I thought I did a really good job at locating it down. That's something we've been working on this spring," Painter said. "I wanted to go out there and throw a lot of strikes. Did a good job for eight outs. Then I kinda lost it a little bit."
Even though Painter struggled with his command in the third inning, he was able to get out of a bases-loaded jam unscathed. Stubbs made sure that didn't go unnoticed when he was waiting for him at the top of the dugout when Painter got out of the inning.
"I think he got tired," Stubbs said of Painter's third inning. "He would probably tell you different, but that's nitpicking. He was awesome today. He threw a lot of strikes, and there was a lot of success out of today."
With Stubbs around, the journey towards success in the big leagues will be smoother for a player of Painter's talent.
"He calls a great game," Painter said. "I have a lot of trust in him...There's good vibes out here. It's just good to have a lot of veterans that have been around the game and played at the highest level of baseball."
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