The Philadelphia Phillies will not be utilizing top prospect Andrew Painter this season.
Surprise, surprise.
After missing the entire season so far with a UCL injury, Painter is no longer an option to help the Major League club according to MLB Pipeline.
This comes as little surprise and we here at Inside the Phillies already mentioned the miniscule, if not highly improbable fact that Painter would be an option after missing so much time.
At some point, the timeline just doesn't work.
Painter's unavailability is one of the reasons why Philadelphia will likely pursue some type of starting pitching at this season's MLB trade deadline.
The Phillies were hoping Painter would fill the fifth starter role and begin to develop into an impact Major League baseball player. Instead, he has lost almost an entire year of development since being shelved during Spring Training.
Philadelphia decided to not put Painter through surgery in hopes the timeline for recovery would be quicker and he could potentially help the team this season.
That is no longer the case as the Phillies will look externally for pitching help now.
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