By Sam Bush
Andrew Painter is the top pitching prospect in the game, and is among the sport’s top 15 minor league talents at Baseball America, ESPN and The Athletic.
Armed with an upper-90s fastball, the 6-7 righty also draws praise from evaluators for a pair of impressive breaking pitches in his slider and curveball. His changeup is viewed as a little behind the rest of his power arsenal but a promising fourth pitch in its own right.
The 13th overall pick in the 2021 draft out of a Florida high school, he traversed three minor league levels last season. In a year split between Low-A, High-A and Double-A, he threw 103 2/3 innings of 1.56 ERA ball, striking out a laughable 38.7% of opponents with just a 6.2% walk rate.
It’s hard to draw up a better first full pro season.
Still, Painter won’t turn 20 until April, and he has just five late-season starts in Double-A and zero experience at the top minor league level.
Carrying him on the MLB roster from day one would be a risk, though president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has said on a few occasions this offseason that it’s not out of the question.
