Spring Breakout appetizer: Painter impresses in 1st live BP of camp

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Before the top Phillies prospects played the top Pirates prospects in Spring Breakout, a 5-3 Philadelphia victory, on Friday afternoon at BayCare Ballpark, Andrew Painter provided a large crowd at Carpenter Complex a peek at what the summer might look like at Citizens Bank Park.

Painter threw his first live BP of the spring against Alec Bohm, Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh, while Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto and Nick Castellanos watched.

¡°I¡¯d take any game action,¡± Painter said, smiling. ¡°But I¡¯ve got to take what I can get. ¡­ First one. The biggest thing is health, walking out of there feeling good. I feel like stuff was coming out pretty good. Talking to some of the hitters, they said the same.¡±

Painter is the organization¡¯s No. 1 prospect and the No. 8 prospect in baseball. The Phillies have said he could join the rotation this summer, depending on his health and performance. He is still building back following Tommy John surgery in 2023.

The Phils are bringing him along slowly. They want to keep him healthy. They want to monitor him closely, so he has the opportunity to pitch deep into the regular season, and possibly the postseason.

They believe he is going to be that good.

¡°Still easing in,¡± Painter said. ¡°A few years ago, the first one felt really good and that led to some problems. I¡¯ve got to take it nice and easy.¡±

Painter will throw at least a couple more live BPs before he faces his first game action in extended spring training.

But he liked what he saw on Friday.

¡°The swings can tell you a lot,¡± Painter said. ¡°A small sample size today, but the biggest takeaway was I thought the changeup was pretty good. It¡¯s something I¡¯ve been working on. I threw a couple to Marsh. He said it looked pretty good. But other than that, the fastball was coming out pretty good. It¡¯ll get better. I felt I could land most things for a strike."

In time, that will happen. In the meantime, Painter remains in big league camp. His locker is next to Matt Strahm¡¯s. It¡¯s two from Zack Wheeler¡¯s. It¡¯s five feet from Aaron Nola¡¯s.

¡°It¡¯s great,¡± Painter said. ¡°I¡¯ll talk to Wheeler. I¡¯ll talk to Strahm. It¡¯s looking from a distance, seeing how they go about their days and do everything day in and day out. Listening to conversations they have with each other.¡±

A few other highlights from Friday¡¯s look at the Phillies¡¯ best prospects:

SS/3B Aidan Miller (No. 2 Phillies prospect, No. 27 in MLB)
He went 0-for-4, but he moved from shortstop to third base in the sixth inning. The Phillies opened camp saying Miller would only play shortstop this season, but they previously said he could move around the infield. Miller doesn¡¯t have just one path to the big leagues, so it only makes sense they moved him to third for a few innings.

He made a nice play in front of the bag to throw out a runner at first in the ninth.

¡°I played third base in high school, so it was a pretty easy transition,¡± Miller said. ¡°I¡¯m an athlete, and I think I¡¯m a utility player so I can play anywhere and feel comfortable anywhere.¡±

CF Justin Crawford (No. 3, No. 63)
Crawford showcased his speed and power. He beat out a high chopper for an infield single in the third. He drove a ball off the left-center field wall in the fifth for a triple. He scored easily on a wild pitch.

¡°Obviously, my game is speed and just trying to put pressure on defenses,¡± Crawford said.

That said, he thought he might have homered in the fifth.

¡°I guess I don¡¯t know my power,¡± Crawford joked. ¡°I¡¯m just glad I was able to square it up and get on base, honestly.¡±

RHP Moisés Chace (No. 5)
Chace struck out two batters swinging in a clean first inning.

The Phillies got Chace, 21, in last summer¡¯s Gregory Soto trade with Baltimore. They placed him on the 40-man roster in the fall, protecting him from the Rule 5 Draft.

Chace came to camp last month behind schedule, he said, after dealing with family matters. He¡¯s still building up. His four-seam fastball last season averaged 94.5 mph last season and touched 98 mph. It averaged 92.4 mph on Friday.

He struck out Sammy Siani, who went to Philadelphia¡¯s Penn Charter School, on a cutter to end the first.

Afterward, Chace said he grew up idolizing the late Jos¨¦ Fernandez, who died in 2016.

¡°I really admired his mound presence and the way he attacked hitters,¡± Chace said through an interpreter. ¡°As soon as he was on the mound, he was locked in. It was different. I like his approach, but I embrace my way of doing it.¡±

3B Aroon Escobar (No. 13)
Escobar doubled down the left-field line to score the Phillies¡¯ second run in the third inning. The ball left his bat at 110.5 mph.

Escobar, 20, put up big numbers in Rookie ball last season, slashing .338/.495/.481 in 104 plate appearances. He is somebody to watch this year. He could move up a lot of prospect lists with another strong showing.

¡°He controls the zone, he has power,¡± Phillies player development director Luke Murton said. ¡°He basically got better in every aspect of the game.¡±

DH Carson DeMartini (No. 15)
He hit a solo homer to left-center field in the seventh inning.

DeMartini reduced his strikeout rate and improved his contact rate since joining the organization last year. If he sustains it, he could move fast through the system.

DeMartini joked afterward that he hadn¡¯t been barreling too many balls to that part of the park recently, so he decided to run just in case the ball stayed in the ballpark.

The ball traveled a Statcast-projected 385 feet.