Andrew Painter is learning through experience and working to sharpen his fastball command

BOSTON — Andrew Painter chucked a football, played catch with a baseball, and ran sprints here Tuesday, all in the shadow of the Green Monster.

Then, he ducked inside.

“A lot of signatures out there,” Painter said of the inside of Fenway Park’s famed left-field wall. “Hopefully I can remember where I put mine.”

Painter is scheduled to make his seventh major league start Wednesday night against the Red Sox. There will be many more. He’s highly touted — not only by the Phillies. There’s a reason teams ask about Painter in trade talks.

» READ MORE: The Phillies have an Alec Bohm problem. What are their options? And how long can they wait?

But Painter has taken his lumps early in the season. He gave up eight runs in 3⅔ innings last week against the Athletics. He has allowed 44 hits in 32⅔ innings overall. His ERA is 6.89.

Painter’s stuff remains promising. In particular, his fastball is averaging 96.1 mph. But opponents have teed off on the heater, batting .373 and slugging .576 against his four-seamer.

Painter and pitching coach Caleb Cotham have dug in over the last few days. Their conclusion:

“I’d say it’s more location right now,” Painter said.

Painter provided an example. In the first inning last Thursday, he tried to throw a fastball up and away in an 0-and-2 count to the Athletics’ Shea Langeliers. Instead, it wound up on the inner half of the plate and at the belt.

“You look at it, and you might be like, ‘OK, it’s not over the middle of the plate. It’s a good pitch,’” Painter said. “But when the miss is 17 inches, it doesn’t matter what the shape is. It doesn’t matter how hard it is at that point. You’ve got to hit a spot there.

“The last two starts, specifically, I’d say that’s kind of been the main thing. When you’re missing spots by that much, it’s kind of hard.”

Perspective is important. Since 2021, there have been only 17 instances of a 23-or-younger rookie pitcher throwing at least 100 innings in a major-league season. Only 13 had a 4.50 ERA, or lower.

The point is, it’s not easy being a young pitcher in the big leagues. Even the most highly touted ones often experience growing pains. Cole Hamels had a 5.98 ERA through 11 major-league starts.

» READ MORE: Over? History shows it’s not over for the Phillies’ season. Here’s what it took for others to turn it around.

Painter conceded he may need to learn to rely more on secondary pitches when he’s unable to command his fastball. But he also noted that his slider has been a “really good putaway pitch,” with a 40% swing-and-miss rate. Nearly a quarter of his strikeouts have come on sliders.

“But I think it’s been getting predictable,“ Painter said. ”When I get two strikes, I want to say it’s like 74% of the time I’m spinning something. [Hitters] get paid to do what they do. They have the analytics as well."

In which case, it comes back to sharpening the fastball.

“That’s where, you get two strikes, you’re probably trying to move the fastball around,” Painter said. “You throw a fastball up, or try to throw a fastball down and away to a righty where they’re expecting me to spin something or expecting me to throw a slider.”

It’s all part of the learning process.

“The best experience you’re going to get and the best way you’re going to learn is from going through it,” Painter said. “You can pick up little tidbits here and there. I talk to [Aaron] Nola, talk to [Zack Wheeler]. You can pick up some very useful information. But you’re going to learn the most from what you do on the mound and firsthand experiences."

Desperate for outfield depth, the Phillies signed switch-hitting Dylan Carlson to a minor-league contract and sent him to triple A. He cleared waivers after getting designated for assignment by the Cubs eight days ago.

The Phillies are dangerously thin, especially in center field. With Johan Rojas serving an 80-game suspension for failing a drug test, the triple-A outfield consists of Steward Berroa, Bryan De La Cruz, utilityman Otto Kemp, and now, Carlson.

Carlson, a former first-round draft pick and third-place finisher for NL Rookie of the Year in 2021, is a .233 hitter with 43 homers and a 91 OPS-plus in seven major-league seasons, mostly with the Cardinals. He has typically hit better from the right side against left-handed pitching (.272 average, .753 OPS) than from the left side against righties (.217, .654).

» READ MORE: MLB batting leader Brandon Marsh on his continued tear: ‘It’s just believing you can do it’

The Phillies demoted pitching prospect Jean Cabrera to double A. Cabrera, 24, had a 9.32 ERA and 20 walks in 28 innings over seven triple-A starts. ... Cristopher Sánchez was named NL Player of the Week after blanking the Athletics for eight innings on May 4 and the Rockies for seven on May 11. He will take a 20⅔-inning scoreless streak and a 2.11 ERA into his scheduled start Saturday in Pittsburgh. ... Painter will be opposed by Red Sox right-hander Sonny Gray (3-1, 3.54 ERA) at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday.

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Despite playing only two seasons for the Phillies, Aaron Rowand left his mark. Literally. Twenty years ago Monday, Rowand smashed into the center-field fence and broke bones in his face to make a catch. And if that didn’t instantly boost his popularity with the fan base, his answer four days later to a question about why he would sacrifice his body certainly did. Rowand joins Phillies Extra to reminisce about “The Catch,” his role in helping to change the culture around the Phillies, and a lot more. Watch here.

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Previous episodes: Hunter Pence | Paco Figueroa | Gage Wood | Scott Boras | Brian Barber | Aaron Nola | Justin Crawford | Garrett Stubbs | Kyle Schwarber | Brad Keller