Andrew Painter’s epic Phillies debut was ‘meant to be’ for one coach who was there for his road back

Andrew Painter spent the better part of three years working with Aaron Barrett, a former major league reliever who was in charge of supervising injured Phillies pitchers. Naturally, they developed a close bond.

But what were the odds that Painter would make his major league debut on the 12th anniversary of Barrett’s — and against Barrett’s former team, no less?

“First wins, too,” Painter said Wednesday. “Incredible.”

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Painter was still sifting through congratulatory messages on the morning after his memorable debut — 5⅓ innings, four hits, one run, one walk, eight strikeouts in a 3-2 victory over the Nationals — when he heard from Barrett about the remarkable coincidence.

“Meant to be!” Barrett wrote in a text to The Inquirer.

Thirteen hours after somehow meeting, even surpassing, the expectations of the most anticipated major league debut by a Phillies pitcher since Cole Hamels 20 years ago, Painter got back to work, playing catch in the outfield before the matinee series finale against Washington.

But the city was still buzzing over the 22-year-old’s first impression.

“He definitely lived up to my expectations of what he could be,” catcher J.T. Realmuto said. “It’s definitely been a little while coming, just because we heard about him at such a young age and then the [elbow] injury for a couple of years. But I don’t think you could ask much more out of a 22-year-old kid for his debut. That was very impressive.”

Realmuto didn’t start on the eve of Painter’s debut, which was partially by design. Instead, he chatted with Painter in the dugout throughout Monday night’s game. Veteran starters Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola also spent extra time around Painter.

They were all impressed with Painter’s preparation.

“He’d watched video, he had some ideas of how he wanted to work counts, and that’s really impressive about a kid that age,” Realmuto said. “Just his knowledge of [the Nationals’] lineup and guys he hadn’t even faced before. Because that’s important. I think that’s something that we do really well as an organization is teach guys to prepare and get ready.”

Nola advised Painter to follow Realmuto’s lead, just as he would in a spring-training start. Once through the order, they focused on establishing Painter’s fastball and mixing in his curveball, slider, and sweeper.

It was all so effective that Realmuto wasn’t compelled to call for Painter’s newly minted split-changeup until the second time through.

Painter altered the grip on his changeup last season after developing blister problems in triple A. He said he would tear the blister, shelve the changeup for a start while the skin callused over, then tear it again.

“After enough times of that,” Painter said, “I think my finger kind of knew what was going on.”

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Painter said his changeup tended to act like “a borderline splitter anyway,” so he switched the grip to alleviate the friction on his finger. He threw the split-changeup often in spring training, even against right-handed hitters.

“Guys aren’t throwing right-on-right changeups, or left-on-left changeups all that often, especially when it’s your fourth pitch,” catcher Garrett Stubbs said in spring training. “But maybe it’s not his fourth pitch anymore.”

Painter certainly isn’t treating it that way. Among his eight strikeouts against the Nationals, Realmuto highlighted the three that he got with the split-changeup.

“That’s a pitch he’s been working on, and he threw it to guys [Luis García Jr., Jorbit Vivas, and Nasim Nuñez] that really hit splits pretty good,” Realmuto said. “But he was able to locate them so well that they were strikeouts.”

After the game, Painter mingled on the field with about 40 friends and family members. Among them: his fiancée, parents, grandparents, and high school coach.

Barrett, who made 95 major league appearances for the Nationals, didn’t miss a pitch. He has a notable debut of his own upcoming. He will manage his first game at low-A Clearwater on Thursday night.

And after three years together, he and Painter will be linked by something else: March 31.

“Coincidence that Andrew and myself debuted and got our first big-league win on the same day?” Barrett said. “And against the Nationals? I think not.”

Orion Kerkering, slowed in spring training by a strained right hamstring, gave up one run on two hits Tuesday night for triple-A Lehigh Valley in Durham, N.C., but emerged feeling fine, according to manager Rob Thomson. Kerkering was scheduled to make his first back-to-back appearance Wednesday night. He’s eligible to be reinstated from the injured list Monday. ... Wheeler, who is coming back from thoracic outlet decompression surgery, is on track for four innings and/or 50-55 pitches Friday night for Lehigh Valley, also in Durham. He will make at least one more triple-A start next week in Allentown. ... After a day off, the Phillies will open a three-game series Friday night in Colorado. Nola (0-0, 5.40 ERA) will be opposed by Rockies right-hander Michael Lorenzen (0-0, 6.23), who pitched a no-hitter for the Phillies in 2023.