Cole Hamels weighs in on Andrew Painter, the Phillies’ next big thing: ‘I know he’s ready’

Want to know how Andrew Painter might be feeling in the hours leading up to his long-awaited, much-anticipated major-league debut?

There’s really only one person to ask.

“He’s been great all spring,” Cole Hamels said Monday via text message before boarding a flight home to Dallas. “I know he’s ready for it.”

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Ten days shy of his 23rd birthday, Painter will scale the mound Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park to face the Washington Nationals in the most ballyhooed debut by a Phillies pitcher since Hamels on a chilly Friday night in Cincinnati 20 years ago.

It’s an occasion three seasons in the making for Painter, whose pitching odyssey is well-known.

To recap: Painter was competing for a spot in the rotation as a 19-year-old in 2023 spring training when he suffered a torn a ligament in his right elbow. He had surgery and missed two seasons. Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski predicted Painter might be ready for the majors by “July-ish” last year. Instead, he struggled in triple A.

But Painter is here now, another year removed from Tommy John surgery, with his best chance to fulfill the promise that comes with getting drafted in the first round in 2021 and crowned as Baseball America’s minor league pitcher of the year in 2022.

“I think triple A was a good place to get the failure out and really experience it there,” Painter said on the eve of his big night, which he expects 30 to 40 friends and family to attend. “If you don’t really have any failure, if you hit it at the big leagues, I think that’s really tough. Being able to get that first little bit of failure in my career and not on the biggest stage was a good thing.”

Hamels, a first-round pick in 2002, went through adversity in the minors, too. He missed time in 2004 with an elbow injury and broke his left hand in a spring-training bar fight in 2005.

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But expectations were through the roof when Hamels got called up in 2006. His first start — one hit, but five walks, in five scoreless innings against the Reds — was merely a preview of what was to come for the second-best lefty in franchise history after Steve Carlton.

Hamels arrived in Philadelphia one night before his debut and traveled with the team to Cincinnati. He was sitting in the clubhouse when Aaron Rowand famously crashed face-first into the center-field wall.

“That shook me,” Hamels said. “I was like, ‘This is the real deal.’”

Hamels got to know Painter in spring training last year and worked with him again this spring. Like other team officials, he was impressed with Painter’s poise and confidence.

“There is pressure, so it’s just hopefully alleviating, or just giving him the right words for advice, and then seeing how he prepares,” Hamels said. “Because it’s the longevity thing now. You want to get to the big leagues, but you want to be there for a very long time and you want to be able to perform.”

Aaron Nola similarly relates to Painter’s situation.

Drafted by the Phillies in the first round in 2014, Nola made his major-league debut 13 months later. He gave up one run on five hits and struck out six in six innings against the Rays at Citizens Bank Park on July 21, 2015.

Nola recalls being more nervous for his second start, on the road at Wrigley Field. But he also remembers spending the night before his debut studying YouTube videos of Tampa Bay batters, like a student cramming for an exam.

“I had one of my worst [triple-A] starts in Rochester and our manager got me the next morning and goes, ‘Hey, you’re going to go meet the team in Philly and make your debut,’” Nola said. “I’m like, ‘Stop screwing with me.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, I’m serious.’”

But the Phillies were already 29 games under .500 when Nola got called up. Nola concedes that Painter is walking into a far different situation, given the expectations for the two-time defending NL East champions.

Still, Nola has shared advice with Painter.

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“I’m sure J.T. [Realmuto] will be catching, so just throw to J.T.,” Nola said. “It’s like a spring-training game with more people in the stands. Just do what he does. It’s the same game, 60 feet, 6 inches [from the mound to home plate]. That’s how I took it when I made my debut as a rookie.

“But I think he’s prepared for it.”

Manager Rob Thomson said he expects Painter will be “a little amped up.” He outlined modest expectations for the first start.

“If he gave us six innings, I’d be thrilled,” Thomson said. “I really would. As long as he throws strikes, commands the strike zone, uses his stuff, keeps guys off balance, he’s going be fine.”

Hamels said he’ll be watching on TV from home.

“I was happy I watched a few games and bullpens in person this spring,” he said by text message. “He’s ready.”

After getting two hits on opening day and going 3-for-9 overall in the first series of the season, rookie center fielder Justin Crawford wasn’t in the lineup for the opener against the Nationals.

Thomson said he wanted to give lefty-hitting Crawford “a little reprieve” from facing left-handed pitching. The Phillies have faced three consecutive lefty starters, including the Nationals’ Foster Griffin.

Brandon Marsh, a left-handed hitter who wasn’t in the lineup Sunday against a lefty, started in center field, with righty-swinging Otto Kemp in left. Thomson said he expects Crawford to play against most lefties.

“He handles lefties pretty good, normally,” Thomson said.

After going 2-for-13 in the season-opening series, Trea Turner took extra batting practice on the field. … Top prospect Aidan Miller, who began the season on the triple-A injured list with a sore lower back, is doing fielding drills and throwing but still not swinging a bat. … The Nationals are expected to use an opener, likely lefty PJ Poulin, on Tuesday night.