Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Andrew Painter has faced challenges in the first two months of his rookie season. He has allowed 72 hits and 19 walks over 58.1 innings, resulting in 40 runs and a 6.21 ERA over his first 12 starts.

Andrew Painter’s struggles stem from his pitching strategy. Painter is a right-hander who stands toward the third-base side of the rubber, positioning his body closer to the right-handed batter’s box.

Furthermore, Andrew Painter delivers his pitches at an average arm angle of 46.9 degrees. As of June 7, 2026, his arm angle is 10.3 degrees higher than the league average. The high arm angle indicates he is prioritizing vertical over horizontal movement. This is evident with his most frequent pitch, the four-seam fastball.

Over his first 12 starts, Andrew has thrown 335 four-seam fastballs, 33.3% of the time. When Andrew Painter throws a four-seam fastball, it has a lot of vertical movement but minimal horizontal movement.

The four-seam fastball has 16.4 inches of vertical movement, the 164th best in the league. On the other hand, it averages 2.8 inches of horizontal movement, the 25th-lowest among all pitchers. Given multiple elements of Andrew Painter’s pitching process, one would assume he is aiming inside to right-handers and away to left-handers.

Andrew Painter’s strategy

Unfortunately, Andrew Painter is employing the opposite strategy. He has been reluctant to throw the four-seam fastball to right-handed batters. 

In his first 12 starts, he threw 95 four-seam fastballs to right-handed batters (28.4% of his total), with just 14.7% on the inner half. To left-handed batters, he threw 240 four-seam fastballs (71.6% of his total), 34.3% of which were inside.

Andrew Painter has struggled with four-seam fastballs on the inner half to left-handed hitters this season. Left-handers are hitting .314 with one home run. Furthermore, he has given up eleven hits on these pitches, 34.3% of the total hits against his fastball.

These numbers have contributed to opponents posting an overall average of .390 against the four-seam fastball, with 4 home runs. There is an avenue Andrew Painter can use to improve his fastball performance. 

He can increase his usage of four-seam fastballs inside to right-handed hitters. Although Andrew Painter is a pitcher who lacks extensive experience with throwing inside fastballs, the data suggest it is effective.

Right-handed pitchers have thrown 40,759 pitches inside to right-handed hitters since 2023. Right-handed hitters have a .227 batting average and 349 home runs on those pitches.

For comparison, right-handed pitchers have thrown 58,732 pitches for left-handed hitters since 2023. Left-handed hitters have a .255 average with 584 home runs.

On the other hand, the data suggest that he needs to throw the four-seam fastball on the outer half of the plate to left-handed hitters. Left-handed hitters have a .226 batting average and 368 home runs since 2023.

Ultimately, Andrew Painter must reduce the frequency with which he throws his four-seam fastball toward the left-handed batter’s box.