Steve Potter
The Jersey Shore pitching staff which was already full of high velocity arms with intriguing upside just got even more interesting with the promotion of 19 year old Andrew Painter today per the newly publicized Phillies Player Development page on Twitter and Instagram.
Painter has shown the ability to bring the heat consistently in the 96 to 100 mph range with a power slider plus a developing curve and changeup. He joins fellow starters Mick Abel, Ben Brown, Griff McGarry, Cristian Hernandez and Matt Russell in a six man rotation with all six capable of mid to high 90’s heat ( Abel, McGarry and Russell have registered triple digits or close to it with Brown flashing 97-98 mph ). Add in Kyle Glogoski who in times past has also been a mid nineties hurler and you have seven very capable starting pitchers ( as will be needed over the next couple weeks since JS plays two upcoming series with seven games each ).
Of course high velocity isn’t the end all catch all as throwing quality strikes and incorporating solid secondaries are required to have sustained success as a starter but each of the young men in the newly updated JS rotation have those capabilities. I don’t get into projecting whether starting pitchers are “#1’s, 2’s or 3’s” - quite frankly I find that silly to do so - it’s sets a subjective boundary on future success - the bottom line is that reaching the big leagues is the end goal for all players - once you get there the analysts, writers and we fans can conjecture all we want to - no pitcher will ever limit their mindset in that way.
The Blue Claws staff has additional high velo hurlers in their bullpen. Andrew Schultz, Andrew Baker & Dominic Pipkin all throw fastballs in the upper nineties to triple digits and Erubiel Armenta, Jason Ruffcorn and Carlos Francisco each generally sit in the 93-95 mph range.
The Blue Claws offense and defense has to improve to turn around the current record of 19-30. Adding Freylin Minyety whom I believe is going to be a productive hitter to stabilize second base and bringing C/1B/DH Anthony Quirion into the mix from Clearwater where he’s been swinging a hot bat of late should help in that regard. I also believe that Johan Rojas & DJ Stewart are going to continue forward from strong weeks last week and that Ethan Wilson has found his stroke for sustained success. Jared Carr and Baron Radcliff are two others who’ve shown signs of going on a streak. And when McCarthy Tatum returns from injury status another solid bat comes into the mix. So long story short I think the offense will pick up and the defense hopefully gets better all around as well.
Time will tell of course but the potential is certainly there for the Blue Claws to be a “Jersey Strong” crew.
Happy Day, Happy Baseball ⚾️
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