If Painter can regain even a few inches of extension and restore the fastball characteristics that made him a top prospect, the ceiling remains unchanged: a legitimate top-of-the-rotation starter capable of competing for Cy Young Awards. The underlying talent is still present; the challenge is recapturing the delivery that once allowed all of those traits to play at their maximum level.

...in addition to Gage Wood (see attached BLOG post) there is another arm quietly climbing the organizational ladder who deserves far more attention: right-hander Alex McFarlane.

...through the first 41 games of 2026, Harper is quietly building a statistical profile that looks surprisingly close to that MVP campaign.

For the Phillies, that matters more than almost anything else. Because recent Phillies history shows a clear pattern: When Alec Bohm is productive, the Phillies become a much more complete and dangerous baseball team.

Remember, during the offseason on the Romantic About Baseball podcast, I was vocal about how the Phillies should let Schwarber walk, pursue Bregman and/or Tucker full bore, and call up Crawford to revamp this lineup. At this point, you have to look at the lineup and understand that their "running it back approach" is an utter failure.