Phillies' top prospect makes progress in rehab for UCL tear

The Philadelphia Phillies entered the season shorthanded in starting pitching depth. That’s in large part because of an injury to Andrew Painter, their top pitching prospect who entered camp in a battle for the final rotation spot. That was put on hold when Painter was diagnosed with a UCL sprain in his throwing elbow in mid-March.

Philadelphia predictably shut the highly-touted righty down. He spent around five weeks on a no-throw program before playing catch for the first time on Monday, tweets Matt Gelb of the Athletic. It’s the first step in Painter’s throwing program, which the Phils will assuredly take with plenty of caution. There’s still not much clarity on the 20-year-old’s overall recovery timetable but it’s notable that he’s again begun throwing.

Painter is on the minor league injured list and not yet on the 40-man roster. He still hasn’t thrown a pitch at Triple-A, with five Double-A starts late in the 2022 season representing his only regular season action in the upper minors. While he was in consideration for an MLB job out of camp, he’ll almost certainly spend some time in the minors to build his pitch count once he’s ready for game action down the line.

Losing Painter all but assured Bailey Falter of a rotation spot. The Phils then lost Ranger Suárez to the IL, pushing Matt Strahm from the bullpen into the rotation. Southpaw Cristopher Sánchez might have gotten the nod over Strahm had he not also gotten hurt in spring training. Sánchez has been battling triceps soreness and opened the year on the IL. His injury doesn’t seem especially serious, as he’s been throwing bullpen sessions in recent days.

Sánchez will report to Triple-A Lehigh Valley tomorrow for a rehab assignment, according to the MLB.com injury tracker. He’s expected to log three innings for the IronPigs. Sánchez working in a multi-inning capacity will give the Phils some needed depth behind their current starting five of Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, Taijuan Walker, Falter and Strahm.

Of course, the spring injuries weren’t limited to the pitching staff. The toughest blow the Phils were dealt this spring came when they lost slugger Rhys Hoskins to an ACL tear in his left knee. That seems likely to cost him the entire 2023 season but the Phillies have refrained from officially declaring him out for the year.

Hoskins met with reporters Monday, the first time he’d addressed the media since the injury. The 30-year-old first baseman expressed continued hope he could play a part in a potential postseason run (link via Dan Gelston of the Associated Press). 

“I’m going to do everything in my power to give myself an opportunity that if and when we are playing in late October, I have a chance to contribute to that," Hoskins said.

The injury opened a season-opening path to playing time at first base for Darick Hall. That audition proved unfortunately brief, as Hall suffered a thumb injury last week and will soon undergo surgery. The Phils now have a loose platoon arrangement between Kody Clemens and Alec Bohm (with Edmundo Sosa taking third base when Bohm slides across the diamond) at the position.