It was a semi-getaway day for the Phillies and Marlins and after getting embarrassed a bit by the Phillies the previous two games, Miami came out swinging. On the day, they battered Andrew Painter and the rest of the Phillies’ pitching staff, putting up twelve runs on thirteen hits. It started early
and often
and truly kept pouring it on.
The Phillies got a good day from Trea Turner (three hits on the day), Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott (two hits each) on offense, but it just wasn’t enough. Even after Painter departed, the bullpen also had a rough day. Tanner Banks allowed four runs in his inning of work, Orion Kerkering was a bit shaky and it got so bad, Garrett Stubbs was called upon to pitch in the ninth even though he was catching start the day.
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But the big story was and is Andrew Painter.
Folks, it’s not good right now.
The fastball is just complete garbage right now, his command is sketchy at best and to be as kind as possible, his spot on the team is just nowhere near as guaranteed as it was when the season started.
You can almost feel the lack of confidence exuding off Painter when he’s on the mound, the lack of trust in his fastball something of an issue. Yes it takes players varying amounts of time to recover from a Tommy John surgery like Painter had, but he simply doesn’t look as though he belongs at the major league level.
Even it means making a move to Bryse Wilson or Alan Rangel, Andrew Painter needs to be sent down to Lehigh Valley, for the betterment of him as a pitcher and the betterment of the team.
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They cannot continue to run him out there, back to back, with a struggling Aaron Nola as well. It’s taxing on the bullpen and taxing on the team as well. There has to be some consideration for the group as a whole and whether or not he puts them in the position to win. Right now, he does not.
The Phillies will be fine as a whole, but Andrew Painter? He’s bad right now.
He needs to be demoted.