Debuting Andrew Painter brushes away Nationals in win, by the numbers

Offense has been hard to come by in South Philadelphia recently. At a premium, per se.

But when the rookie, 22-year-old, top-ranked pitching prospect and former first-rounder throws the way he did, that doesn’t matter much.

Andrew Painter was dominant.

In the Phillies’ 3-2 win over the Nationals, Painter delivered a memorable five-and-a-third inning, one-run, eight-strikeout performance in front of the 40,709 in attendance. He was, at times, borderline unhittable. Painter’s tip of the cap and the crowd’s deafening ovation on his way off the mound matched one another.

There wasn’t a moment in the start where Painter looked flustered, part of the calm, cool and collected demeanor that has always followed him. Nothing seemed to phase the right-hander.

The biggest thing attached to Painter’s name since the beginning of last season has been his control — more specifically, his ability to get ahead of hitters. That was the biggest knock in his first season back from Tommy John surgery.

But that season was also about getting feel back. And now, from the look of it, he has more than feel. On Tuesday, he was in cruise control.

It’s hard enough to command a four-pitch mix. Better yet, a repertoire that now features six pitches. He threw all six of them at at least a 50 percent strike clip. That’s the kind of detail that jumps off the page.

The pitch that really did?

PAINTER’S HOOK

The curveball.

Painter has said his slider is the pitch that helps him get back into the zone, but on Tuesday, the hook was what separated the outing.

The curveball landed in the zone 60 percent of the time. When he threw it out of the zone, hitters whiffed 50 percent of the time. And 87 percent of the 15 he threw went for strikes.

The full variation of his mix was what made the night so impressive. The first time through the Nationals’ order, Painter used his fastball 53 percent of the time. That dropped to 33 percent after that, and the offspeed took on a heavier role.

A different set of attack plans showed the maturity in the outing.

That kept the Nationals off balance and led to just one hard-hit ball against the 6-foot-7 right-hander.

Of the 12 batted balls Washington put in play, they produced just one hard hit ball and an average exit velocity of just 82.3 mph. This is exactly the kind of outing the Phillies, Rob Thomson and Painter’s friends and family — nearly 40 of them in attendance — wanted to see.

The Phillies’ rotation is already filled with notable names, former All-Stars and near-Cy Young winners. Painter, now at the back of it, gives the group a level of upside the club hasn’t been able to carry in a long time.

SCHWARBER’S JOLT

It’s been an interesting first handful of games for the Phillies.

They were able to manufacture runs against one of the toughest right-handers in the league last year, Nathan Eovaldi, and homered twice in that Opening Day win. Since then, the power has been quieter.

So on a night when they needed some run support behind their rookie, they found it — to an extent — the way they know best.

Kyle Schwarber got ahold of Zack Littell’s 91.3 mph sinker and drilled it 397 feet at 103 mph off the bat. It smacked the Toyota sign hanging off the second deck in right field.

Last year, Schwarber hit .330 against sinkers. He whiffed just 17.8 percent of the time against the pitch, lower than against any other offering he saw. He also slugged .648 against it.

His 66.2 hard-hit rate against the sinker last season was the best in Major League Baseball.

FIRST FOR PHILLY

Adolis García joined in on the fun. It was a night of firsts — Painter’s debut, and García’s first homer as a Phillie.

The opposite-field solo shot, which would have been a homer in less than a third of parks around baseball, still found the seats in right field.

García’s bat speed has been up in a small-sample start to the season, and his swing is much shorter now — a change he made during spring training.

And while he’s at his best when he’s pulling the baseball, as he did during his 38-homer 2023 season, using right field at Citizens Bank Park gives him another toy to play with.

He had gone the opposite way just 18.2 percent of the time entering Tuesday, but his first homer as a Phillie came at the right time and ended up being the difference in a much-needed win.