Phillies won’t rush Andrew Painter’s return to majors. Instead, it’s about ‘getting himself’ right.
While Don Mattingly is counting on having the 23-year-old back, the interim manager doesn't have an outlined timetable for Painter, who made his first start for triple-A Lehigh Valley on Sunday.
NEW YORK — The symmetry was undeniable.
As the Phillies finished a series against the Mets here Sunday, Andrew Painter faced New York’s JV club in his first start for triple-A Lehigh Valley. The games were played only 109 miles apart along Interstate 78, and the Phillies hope Painter’s road back to the majors isn’t much longer.
That remains to be seen. But for starters, Painter got better results, especially with his fastball, in allowing one run in four innings against Syracuse.
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When the Phillies demoted Painter 10 days earlier, the instructions were clear. They wanted him to focus on his fastball, which got hit hard in his first 14 major-league appearances. Opponents batted .404 and slugged .660 against it.
Painter threw 44 four-seam fastballs out of 80 pitches for Lehigh Valley, while sprinkling in 11 sliders, seven sinkers, six curveballs, six sweeping sliders, and five splitters. The hits came off his slider and sinker.
The Phillies haven’t outlined a timetable for Painter to return. It’s intentional. But with scant depth in the rotation, they are counting on the 23-year-old to get back.
But interim manager Don Mattingly also isn’t waiting breathlessly for daily updates on Painter’s progress.
“From my standpoint, he’s just down there working and getting himself [right],” Mattingly said. “It’s not like a rehab-type situation where you think, ‘Oh, he’s going to get one start and he’s coming back.’ I think it’s more like, ‘Hey, let’s get this guy on the right track and don’t put a timetable on it.’
“It’s really important moving forward, to the organization, that he becomes what he’s capable of. So, I just look at it more like he’s down there working, and then we’ll hear periodically how it’s going.”
Rincones sits
As the Phillies anticipated, the Mets brought in righties Tobias Myers and Kodai Senga behind lefty opener Cionel Pérez to cover the bulk of the innings Sunday.
But Gabriel Rincones Jr. wasn’t in the lineup.
Rincones, a left-handed hitter who plays against most righties, was in a 3-for-30 skid with seven strikeouts since hitting his first career homer June 15 in his first at-bat at Citizens Bank Park. Overall, he was 4-for-34 with nine strikeouts.
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“I felt like Rinco needed a day to think about it just a little bit,” Mattingly said. “Sometimes I feel like, with young guys, you kind of pay attention to when the at-bats aren’t going good. What are they [like]? How are they dealing with that? So, [it’s] a day just to watch a game.”
Besides, righty-hitting Derek Hill was on an 8-for-19, two-homer roll. Hill started in right field in Rincones’ place.
The Phillies are scheduled to face four righty starters this week against the Pirates. It will be interesting to see how many games Rincones starts.
“In general, I’d just like him to stay aggressive and not really get where he’s thinking too much about the at-bats just one to the other,” Mattingly said. “I’d say it’s been spotty as far as feeling like he’s making quality contact a lot. It’s another thing that we’ll keep an eye on.”
Extra bases
Reliever Brad Keller, sidelined since June 16 with right forearm tendintis, threw from the slope of a mound and is expected to progress to a bullpen session this week. After that, Mattingly said Keller may face hitters, then make a minor-league appearance before rejoining the Phillies’ bullpen. ... Knicks playoff star OG Anunoby threw the ceremonial first pitch to former Mets shortstop José Reyes. ... The Phillies will return home at 6:40 p.m. Monday to begin a four-game series with the Pirates. Aaron Nola (3-4, 5.58 ERA) is slated to start against Pittsburgh righty Braxton Ashcraft (7-3, 3.07).
Ricky Bottalico spouts opinions each day on sports-talk radio and the Phillies' television pre- and postgame show. But before all that, he had a solid career as a relief pitcher, even representing the Phillies in the 1996 All-Star Game at Veterans Stadium. With the baseball world set to descend on Philly again in a few weeks, Ricky Bo joined "Phillies Extra" to re-live his All-Star experience. Watch here.
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