Andrew Painter undergoing tests after experiencing elbow tenderness

CLEARWATER — The story of the day was going to be Matt Vierling, Nick Maton, Andrew Knapp and César Hernández getting to catch up with their former Philadelphia Phillies teammates as they played for the Detroit Tigers in a Grapefruit League game.

Instead, an ominous update about the No. 1 prospect in the organization will steal the headlines.

After a 6-3 loss to the Tigers, manager Rob Thomson released a vague update on the status of Andrew Painter, who made his first Spring Training start for the Phillies Wednesday afternoon.

“Andrew Painter came in with a little tender elbow yesterday,” Thomson said. “So we don’t have any results, but we’ve sent him out for some tests and we’ll have some more information tomorrow on it.”

When asked whether Painter was going to undergo an MRI, Thomson declined to get into further details and said that more will be known on Saturday.

Painter threw 29 pitches in a start against the Minnesota Twins Wednesday at Baycare Ballpark, peaking at 99 mph on the radar gun. Nothing in his two-inning start led you to believe that the 19-year-old wasn’t capable of opening the 2023 season with the Phillies.

However, even if the Phillies get good news back on whatever tests Painter is undergoing, it’s fair to wonder if he’ll have enough time to ramp up now before the start of the regular season.

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