{"id":165108,"date":"2025-08-22T00:17:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T00:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/165108\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T00:17:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T00:17:14","slug":"with-zack-wheeler-down-its-time-for-the-x-factor-andrew-painter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/165108\/","title":{"rendered":"With Zack Wheeler Down, It\u2019s Time For The X-Factor… Andrew Painter"},"content":{"rendered":"

This hurts bad. Real bad. Philadelphia Phillies ace Zack Wheeler is out indefinitely with a scary injury. So, is there any viable solution for the Phils? Indeed there is. That solution is Andrew Painter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time to call the kid up whether the Phillies like it or not.<\/p>\n

\"Glendale<\/p>\n

With Zack Wheeler on the IL, it may be time for the Phillies to call up Andrew Painter. (Photo by Norm Hall\/MLB Photos via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

MLB Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Painter could fill the void \u2014 not the shoes \u2014 left by Wheeler, who had surgery Monday to remove a blood clot in his upper right arm<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Phillies said Wheeler underwent a thrombolysis procedure at a Philadelphia hospital and gave no timeline for his recovery. No timeline means it\u2019s going to be a long wait for Wheeler \u2014 probably next season.<\/p>\n

The best response to the disastrous news is to call up Painter, a blue-chip prospect<\/a> whom team officials have envisioned as Wheeler\u2019s heir apparent.<\/p>\n

Just prior to Wheeler\u2019s injury, it looked like Painter had no chance of debuting<\/a> in the majors in 2025 after scuffling in the minor leagues this season. But when asked if it\u2019s time to call him up, Phillies manager Rob Thomson gave a quick but telling reply on Sunday. “Could be,” Thomson said via The Inquirer<\/a>. The manager added, \u201cIf we have to go to a sixth (starter), it could be Painter. It could be somebody else. We\u2019ve just got to carry on.”<\/p>\n

Yes, Painter has flopped at triple-A Lehigh Valley this year, with a 5.31 ERA over 17 starts. Yes, he\u2019s close to maxing out with 81\u2153 innings pitched in his first regular season since undergoing Tommy John surgery in July 2023.<\/p>\n

But if the Phillies reach the postseason (and it looks like they should), they\u2019ll need an X-factor to make a deep run. How about a smoke-throwing pitcher that opposing MLB hitters have yet to see? See where we\u2019re going with this? The X-factor is Painter.<\/p>\n

And although the surface stats looks ugly, his arm is still golden, firing 100-mph bullets and knee-breaking curves, with the ability to dominate like this:<\/p>\n

Painter\u2019s problem this season has been his command but that issue could resolve itself in the big leagues where there\u2019s a \u201cbook\u201d underscoring every big-league hitter\u2019s weakness. No such book exists in the minors.<\/p>\n

Also, the energy at Citizens Bank Park \u2014 especially during Red October \u2014 could rev up a youngster like Painter and give him an extra mph on his heater.<\/p>\n

Although he\u2019s pitched poorly in 2025, his most recent start on Saturday was solid: 5 innings, four hits, three runs (two earned), three walks and five strikeouts on 83 pitches (50 strikes).<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s a Phillies\u2019 historical reference supporting an X-factor. Go back to September 1980 when the Phils called up a young flame-thrower named Marty Bystrom, who went 5-0 down the stretch and then started an NLCS game and a World Series game, both of which the Phillies won en route to their first-ever title.<\/p>\n

Granted, it\u2019s likely a long shot that Painter turns into the reincarnate of Bystrom. But it\u2019s worth giving it a shot \u2014 to find out if the kid is the X-factor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This hurts bad. Real bad. Philadelphia Phillies ace Zack Wheeler is out indefinitely with a scary injury. So,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":165109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[95086,591,41210,1266,20414,18823,95087,62,67,132,68,63393],"class_list":{"0":"post-165108","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-andrew-painter","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-harper","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-phillies","13":"tag-philly","14":"tag-phils","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-wheeler"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115069546919990122","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}