Andrew Painter is ready, three years later than he expected. And maybe that’s a ‘blessing in disguise.’

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Before he reported to his first major league spring training camp in 2023, Andrew Painter met with his agent.

“Ideally,” Scott Boras said, “I would love it if you didn’t throw your first pitch in the big leagues until you’re 22.”

Sure thing, Painter thought. One problem: He was 19, and the Phillies were dangling a spot in the season-opening starting rotation.

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“I remember looking at him like, ‘All right, what do you want me to do?’” Painter recalled Monday. “I was 19, I’m coming in, hoping to break in, so I’m sitting there like, ‘You want me to put some weight on? What do you want me to do?’”

Three years later, Painter finds the whole thing to be oddly prophetic. Because if, as expected, the 6-foot-7 righty breaks camp with the Phillies, he will be 22 — a few days shy of his 23rd birthday on April 10 — when he makes his major league debut.

Just as Boras hoped, albeit for much different reasons.

Boras’ concern in 2023 stemmed from a belief, rooted in his experience with other clients, that most pitchers don’t physically mature until their early 20s. To prove his point, he rattles off a list of pitchers who debuted at 19 or 20 and flamed out by 29 or 30.

Fernando Valenzuela. Bret Saberhagen. Steve Avery. Kerry Wood. Félix Hernández. Madison Bumgarner.

But after being crowned by Baseball America as the sport’s best minor league pitcher in 2022, with a chance to be the first teenager to start a game for the Phillies since Mark Davis in 1980, Painter put his foot on the gas in the spring of 2023. In his first Grapefruit League start, he touched 99 mph in the first inning against then-Twins star Carlos Correa and uncorked a cutter that he’d only recently started throwing.

And he tore a ligament in his right elbow.

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You know the rest. Doctors recommended rest and rehab, but Painter couldn’t avoid surgery. He didn’t pitch competitively for two seasons. Upon returning last year — amid expectations that he might reach the majors by “July-ish,” as Dave Dombrowski outlined — he struggled with wayward fastball command and didn’t get out of triple A.

So here he was Monday, a fully-formed 22-year-old pitcher with his top-prospect shine only slightly dulled, facing the meat of the Phillies’ order — Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto, Bryson Stott, Bryce Harper, Alec Bohm, and Brandon Marsh — in live batting practice in preparation for his first Grapefruit League start later in the week or this weekend.

“Overall I thought his stuff was really good,” Schwarber said. “I thought the fastball had some life. Definitely had its good profile that it should have. The thing that’s going to really help him out is having his fastball and knowing where he’s going to put it. Right?”

Did anything look different from three springs ago, before the elbow injury, when Schwarber memorably took Painter deep in the direction of US-19 traffic beyond the right field fence on a back field at the Carpenter Complex?

“It’s a good question,” Schwarber said. “He’s getting a feel for things and making adjustments with his arm angle. I think you’re going to see a really good version of him.”

Painter’s arm angle dropped throughout last season. Maybe it was the toll of pitching 118 innings after a two-year absence. Maybe it was something else. He said he wasn’t overly aware of it. Besides, his focus was getting through the season healthy.

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But the Phillies believe the lower arm slot affected his ability to spot his fastball consistently. And triple-A hitters teed off, batting .329 and slugging .585 against Painter’s four-seamer.

“In the season it’s kind of hard to keep up with that stuff, and you don’t want to mess with it in season,” Painter said. “It’s something you kind of just go back and look and you’re aware of it, but you really dial it in in the offseason.”

When Painter went home to South Florida and resumed his offseason training at Cressey Sports Performance, he set out to raise his arm slot again. The first few weeks of spring training have been reinforcing those habits.

Painter has made other tweaks, including the grip on his changeup. He developed blisters early last season in triple A and wasn’t able to throw the changeup as often as he wanted. It’s probably his best offspeed pitch. He also throws a hard slider, sweeper, and curveball.

“The changeup is a big thing,” Painter said. “The changeup was really good for me last year. Kind of bringing back the sweeper. Last year I was searching for a sweeper, and that was where the arm started to drop. So, I’m getting back to the one I threw pre-TJ [Tommy John surgery].

“Just being able to come in here and do my thing, without having to worry about pitch count or anything like that, just going out there and pitch, it’s nice.”

Pitchers often say everything is crisper and sharper in the second year after Tommy John surgery. The Phillies are hoping that will be the case for Painter.

But maybe Painter will benefit from finally graduating to the majors. Because team officials were salivating three years ago over the possibility that he would crack the rotation and thought for sure he would pitch in the majors last year.

The opportunity exists for him now while Zack Wheeler is coming back from a complicated surgery to relieve pressure on a vein that was compressed between his collarbone and rib cage. The Phillies want Painter to earn a spot, but they won’t have anyone else to fall in line behind Cristopher Sánchez, Jesús Luzardo, Aaron Nola, and Taijuan Walker.

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Painter’s time is now. At last. At age 22, just as Boras hoped.

“I didn’t know what to make of it at the time,” Painter said. “It was weird. But guys when they’re 19, you go out there, it’s almost like your body’s not ready. It can’t handle that load. So, yeah, I do think maybe this was all kind of a blessing in disguise.”

Orion Kerkering, slowed by a strained right hamstring, is targeting the end of the week to throw a bullpen session. … The Phillies will face the Marlins at 1:10 p.m. Tuesday in Jupiter, Fla., before returning to Clearwater on Wednesday to face the Tigers.