Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola, the club’s first-round pick in the 2014 draft and the longest-tenured player on the team, watched from the first-base dugout as his fellow homegrown pitcher made the best start of his young career this past Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park.
The 33-year-old Nola has said on plenty of occasions that he loves when players make their debuts, and he’s seen plenty of rookies come through the building in his 12 seasons with the Phillies. Some have panned out. Others haven’t. But the 23-year-old Painter seemed to be showing a sign that he might be figuring it out.
“He looked noticeably different from all his other outings that he’s thrown here,” Nola said in a conversation with Phillies Nation before the team left for its current road trip. “It looked like he was really throwing every pitch with conviction, more on the attack mode and like he was trusting all of his stuff, that it was going to do what it was going to do.”
Painter, a first-round pick in 2021, allowed one run in seven innings. He threw 99.6 mph against his last batter of the game. He dominated more than he ever had on a major-league mound. For Nola, it was “good to see.”
Both Nola and Painter have picked up their production of late after disappointing starts to the season. And Painter has flashed the traits that once made him one of the top prospects in the sport. Over a decade after his own rookie season, Nola is getting to enjoy Painter’s progression.
Nola was one of five rookie starters to make his big-league debut for Philadelphia in 2015. Two others, Adam Morgan and Severino González, were also homegrown. Morgan put together a handful of solid seasons as a reliever later in his career, and González never pitched in the majors after 2016.
Nola, meanwhile, never relinquished his rotation spot. He found his footing on some brutal teams, developed into a durable standout starter on some clubs that didn’t break into the postseason and has played a part in four playoff berths in a row. He’s watched the Phillies part with some of the key cogs from their last successful era in his younger years and help usher in a new one as a veteran.
“I was very lucky,” Nola said, “that when I came up with the Phillies, they just let me pitch.”
Since Nola broke into the major leagues on July 21, 2015, eight pitchers who were drafted or originally signed by the Phillies have debuted for the team and made at least one start in their first season: Mark Leiter Jr. in 2017, Ranger Suárez in 2018, Cole Irvin in 2019, Spencer Howard and Adonis Medina in 2020, Bailey Falter in 2021, Mick Abel in 2025 and now Painter in 2026. Only Suarez has made more than 24 starts during his Phillies career.
The club hopes that Painter is the next homegrown starter who sticks for an extended period of time. The Phillies handed Painter, who underwent Tommy John surgery in 2023, a rotation job at the start of the season after a difficult campaign in the minors last year. He began on a solid note, but Painter’s outings were not competitive as the season went into the summer. He was sent down to Triple-A Lehigh Valley after a two-inning, six-run blowup start on June 17 to reset and refine.
In his first five games since being brought back up, Painter has a 3.62 ERA in 27 1/3 innings. He looks sharper and more confident with a fastball more geared to miss bats. He’s rejoined a team that currently holds the second National League Wild Card position and has done his part so far.
“The situation is definitely different from my time as a rookie versus Painter’s time,” Nola said. “But at the end of the day, it’s the same game. I was going out to try to pitch well and win a baseball game, and that’s what he’s trying to do. As pitchers, that’s what we need to do, regardless of if you’re not contending or if you are contending.”
The 2015 Phillies had the worst record in Major League Baseball with 63 wins. They traded away franchise icons like Cole Hamels and Chase Utley during the season. But during that year, Nola got adjusted to the big-league game. He dealt with an injury the next season before really settling in during 2017. Painter now has his chance to continue acclimating, albeit in a contrasting team environment.
“You’re trying to win that game that day and put your team in the best position to win,” Nola said. “That’s what Painter did (Saturday), and it was really good to see, because his stuff is so good. It’s really good. He throws upper 90s (mph) in it. He hit 100 mph in the seventh inning, with his 100th pitch or something. So he’s got the durability to be really good, and I hope to keep seeing that.”
The stakes are certainly higher for each individual start right now for Painter than they were for Nola in his first year. There could be more bumps in the road for the rookie as the Phillies gun for a postseason appearance and potential playoff seeding. But in Nola’s view, the experience Painter will gain down the stretch should be a great opportunity. He’s scheduled to pitch the series opener against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium on Friday.
“Being able to go through with some success and some struggles at this level on this type of team,” Nola said, “a contending team, it’s going to help him a lot down the road, I believe.”
