​One year after being drafted 13th overall in the 2021 MLB Draft, Andrew Painter drew attention from the baseball world as a whole. Painter dominated in his first full professional season, reaching Double-A by year’s end as a 19-year-old. He won the Paul Owens Award, given to the best Phillies’ MiLB hitter and pitcher. His recognition went beyond his organization as well, winning Baseball America’s inaugural MiLB Pitcher of the Year. With an absurd 1.56 ERA in 22 starts and an overpowering 38.7 K%, the Phillies had a true pitching talent they could bank on. But injuries got in the way of Painter. He was diagnosed with a UCL sprain during Spring Training the next year. Just a few months later, he underwentTommy John Surgery, not returning until late 2024 in the Arizona Fall League. Finally, Painter debuted in the major leagues in 2026, but struggled badly in his first taste. Refined Secondary StuffPainter’s fastball had been a problem for him during his first stint in the majors. With Fangraphs’ pitch value stat, pitches can be measured as if a hitter got to see them 100 times each. This stat (Pitch type/C) helps balance smaller samples and will be used to evaluate changes in Painter’s arsenal. In his first MLB action, Painter’s fastball suffered with a wFA/C of -3.28 (0 being average). That gave him baseball’s fifth-worst wFA/C in that time (minimum 60 innings pitched).What really hurt Painter was that his secondary stuff suffered too. Though not to the same extreme as his fastball, Painter had a negative slider (-0.65) and sinker (-0.50). While his curveball (0.11) and splitter (0.12) were both just above average, he lacked a reliable out pitch.That has not been a problem since being recalled. Painter has swapped out his splitter for a changeup that has been worth 5.49 runs above average. His slider has seen mild improvements (-0.09 wSL/C) as well, giving him two extra pitches to lean on. The arsenal switch from a splitter to a changeup has benefited Painter most. Painter’s splitter averaged 87.4 MPH, while his changeup has averaged 90.1 MPH. While he found success with his splitter (.195 AVG, 35.7 K%), batters still occasionally barreled it. He allowed three home runs on the pitch, and hitters slugged .415 against it. While the changeup sample is much smaller (55 pitches), he’s yet to allow any hits off it. Opponents are now striking out 46.7% of the time against his new-look offspeed pitch.Andrew Painter’s new changeup is a subtle tweak off his old splitter. Slight rotation of ball, middle finger closer to his index finger.April: 87.2 mph, 6.5″ vert, 11″ arm-sideSince Break: 90.1 mph, 4.7″ vert, 13″ arm-sideHarder with more drop is a nice combo. #Philliespic.twitter.com/g2mC68zinv— Lance Brozdowski (@LanceBroz) August 11, 2026Notable Improvements in Overall CommandCommand can be a difficult quality of a pitcher’s to quantify. However, some stats can help indicate the quantity and quality of strikes thrown. One of th