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Andrew Painter among 21 nonroster players invited to Phillies spring training

Mick Abel and Griff McGarry will also be among the players who aren’t on the 40-man roster but will attend major league camp.

Andrew Painter is baseball's No. 1 pitching prospect based on a poll of team executives.
Andrew Painter is baseball's No. 1 pitching prospect based on a poll of team executives.Read moreJeff Auger / Clearwater Threshers

Andrew Painter’s highly anticipated pursuit of the Phillies’ fifth-starter job is off to an unofficial start.

Painter, recently ranked by Baseball America as the top pitching prospect in the sport, will headline a group of 21 nonroster invitees to spring training, the Phillies announced Tuesday. Pitchers and catchers are scheduled to begin working out Feb. 16 at the Carpenter Complex in Clearwater, Fla.

» READ MORE: Phillies’ Alec Bohm poised to continue getting better after making a big leap last season

Fellow pitching prospects Mick Abel and Griff McGarry will also be among the players who aren’t on the 40-man roster but will attend major league camp. Other notable invitees include infielder Scott Kingery and reliever Mark Appel, the former No. 1 overall pick who re-signed with the Phillies as a minor-league free agent.

But all eyes will be on Painter. The Phillies intend to hold a spring-training competition for the last spot in the starting rotation, and the 19-year-old phenom is a top candidate to win the job from a field that includes left-handers Bailey Falter and Cristopher Sánchez. One high-ranking team official said last month that he “will be shocked” if Painter “isn’t our No. 5 starter coming out of spring training.”

Painter, the 13th overall pick in the 2021 draft, dominated three levels of the minors last season, ending up at double-A Reading and finishing with a 1.56 ERA and 155 strikeouts in 103⅔ innings overall. Manager Rob Thomson hasn’t actually seen him pitch in a game, but he received a steady stream of reports throughout the year from the player-development staff.

”You don’t even have to ask. They just tell you how good this guy is and the makeup and the intangibles and the athleticism, all that stuff,” Thomson said. “And I’ve been watching a little bit of tape, and it’s real.

“Now, we have to be careful and make sure we don’t rush him too soon, don’t overwork him. It’s a different level of tension and anxiety from double A to spring training in the big leagues and then regular season in the big leagues. Completely different. So, we’ll see how it works.”

Abel and McGarry also figure to compete for the No. 5 starter job, but Painter is believed to be the closest to the majors. If Painter makes his debut before his birthday on April 10, he would be the first 19-year-old pitcher to start a game in the majors since Julio Urías for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2016. The Phillies haven’t had a 19-year-old starting pitcher since Mark Davis in 1980.

» READ MORE: Phillies prospect rankings: Farm system is heavy on impact pitching, lacking major league-ready bats

The Phillies signed right-handers Jon Duplantier, Louis Head, Jake Jewell, and Jeremy Walker, lefty Ben Bowden, catchers John Hicks and Max McDowell, and infielders Jim Haley, Vimael Machín, and Weston Wilson to minor-league contracts and invited them to spring training. Other nonroster invitees include relievers Andrew Baker, Francisco Morales, McKinley Moore, and Billy Sullivan, catcher Vito Friscia, and infielder Will Toffey.