Phillies’ Top Prospect Andrew Painter Likely to Undergo Tommy John Surgery to Repair UCL in Right Elbow
Philadelphia Phillies prospect Andrew Painter’s 2023 season could end without the young right-hander completing a single inning as he will likely require surgery to repair the UCL in his right elbow, the team announced on Wednesday.
Painter, the organization’s No. 1 top prospect per MLB Pipeline, hasn’t pitched all season since suffering a sprained UCL during spring training, squashing his chances of breaking camp as part of the big-league club’s starting rotation. But now it appears he could remain sidelined until 2024.
The 20-year-old hurler had resumed throwing over the last few weeks. But since he is still experiencing discomfort, team doctors have recommended he undergo UCL reconstruction – also known as Tommy John surgery – which they revealed in Wednesday’s press release.
“Right-handed pitcher Andrew Painter has been undergoing conservative management for a right elbow partial ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) injury since March 2, 2023. While he was able to return to throwing bullpens and follow-up imaging has shown interval healing in his elbow, over the last few weeks, he continues to be symptomatic upon examination. Considering the timing of the season and that Painter is still experiencing symptoms, the Phillies medical staff has recommended he undergo a right elbow UCL reconstruction with ulnar nerve transposition surgery.”
The Phillies also added that Painter has a consultation appointment scheduled for July 24th with Dr. Neal El Attrache in Los Angeles, where he’ll receive a second opinion before determining his next steps.
Even so, all indications are that Painter will eventually require Tommy John surgery, keeping him out through the rest of this season and likely most of 2024, if not all. The 6-foot-7 righty will be Rule-5 eligible following the 2025 campaign.
That’s a major blow for one of the sport’s brightest young arms, who climbed three minor-league levels (single-A, high-A, double-A) in 2022 and was preparing to leapfrog triple-A with a strong showing this past spring. Now, he’s likely looking at 12-18 months of recovery.
Painter logged 103.2 innings over 22 starts last season, posting a 1.56 ERA and 2.02 FIP while conquering three minor-league levels. The 13th overall selection from 2021 also racked up 155 strikeouts, issuing 25 walks, resulting in an eye-popping 32.4 percent K-BB rate difference.
Philadelphia, meanwhile, had already begun preparations for this unfortunate outcome as president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski announced earlier this week that he wasn’t expecting Painter to make an impact in 2023.
“We’re not counting on him as depth at this time,” Dombrowski told MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki on Tuesday. “Where he is at this point, he has tenderness [in the elbow]. He’s still dealing with that. I mean, you can just do the math. It just doesn’t make sense. I think basically as of a couple weeks ago when he had that [setback], in my own mind I thought that’s it for this year.”
Despite the loss of Painter, the Phillies’ starting rotation – headlined by Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler – has done a fantastic job of providing support around their top two horses, thanks to Taijuan Walker, Ranger Suárez and Cristopher Sánchez.
There isn’t much depth beyond that trio, though, suggesting Dombrowski will likely be in the market for a back-end starter leading up to the August 1st trade deadline.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @ThomasHall85
Photo: Bryan Green. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.