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Phillies Will Benefit Greatly From Andrew Painter Rediscovering Fastball

Aug 10, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Andrew Painter (24) throws against the St. Louis Cardinals during the sixth inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Phillies Will Benefit Greatly From Andrew Painter Rediscovering Fastball

Originally posted on Philadelphia Phillies on SI
By Kenneth Teape | Last updated Aug 18, 2026 6:00 AM ET

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Normally, there wouldn’t be too much for Philadelphia Phillies fans to get excited about when a pitcher has an outing like the one Andrew Painter had in the series finale against the Minnesota Twins.

However, he showed a lot of moxie in the start, and there were a lot of positives to take away from an outing that began so poorly. In the first inning, Painter erased a leadoff walk to Trevor Larnach by getting Byron Buxton to ground into a double play.

However, singles by Josh Bell and Kody Clemens preceded a walk to Royce Lewis. Then Brooks Lee took him deep for a grand slam, staking the Twins to an early 4-0 lead. It certainly wasn’t how Painter wanted to get things started, but he battled.

Only three more hits were allowed through his next four innings of work. One of them was a solo home run to Clemens in the bottom of the third, but there was an encouraging development throughout all of this: his fastball.

Andrew Painter starting to get life back on fastball

IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

A pitch that has been so troublesome throughout his short Major League career thus far is starting to come to life. Since undergoing Tommy John surgery, it is the one offering in his arsenal that hasn’t quite come back to life, but there were signs of a turnaround against Minnesota.

It is a goal of the young righty to get the four-seam fastball back to where it was. He aims to get back to the same vertical break he had previously, which would help him miss more bats in the zone.

Against the Twins, that was happening. As shared by Cole Weintraub of NBC Sports Philadelphia, Painter’s fastball averaged more than 18 inches of vertical break, surpassing the 16 inches it has been hovering around all season and the 14 inches it had been producing more recently.

“I’ll obviously take life on my fastball,” Painter said. “The difference the last few starts has been 14, so there is a little bit of difference there where I’m trying to command that pitch.”

Andrew Painter gaining more confidence in four-seam fastball

IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

That movement is what helps get the pitch past hitters for swing-and-misses. Velocity can only do so much, as Big League hitters can handle triple-digit heat if it is straight as an arrow. However, velocity with the movement left batters befuddled.

Weintraub shared that Painter generated 15 swing-and-misses with his fastball, coming out to a whiff rate of 27%. That is more than double his season-long number for his four-seamer, which is 12%.

“The more consistent that pitch can be outing to outing, the easier it’s going to be to command it,” Painter said. “It’s hard when you’re throwing the flat one compared to the one that’s taking off. It’s a little hard to make that adjustment in real time, but you kind of have no other choice.”

The four-seam fastball remains a work in progress for Painter, but this is a step in the right direction. If he can continue locating the fastball while ramping up the vertical break, he is going to start to resemble the pitcher who was so highly regarded as a prospect.

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This article first appeared on Philadelphia Phillies on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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