Philadelphia Phillies fans react to prospect Andrew Painter suffering UCL sprain, out for a month: "This franchise is cursed"

The Philadelphia Phillies will be without their top prospect Andrew Painter for at least a month. The hard-throwing righty is dealing with a UCL sprain. Painter won't throw for the next month and then will enter a light throwing phase.

Whenever you hear a pitcher dealing with any UCL discomfort, you hold your breath. The UCL is the ligament that gets replaced during Tommy John surgery. A sprain indicates some stretching or tearing. Any further complications to the UCL, we could see Painter going under the knife.

The injury takes him out of contention to be on the opening day roster. That's a bummer for someone who had so much hype coming into spring training.

Painter was the No. 13 pick of the 2021 draft. He flew through the minor leagues, dominating most of the hitters he faced. He compiled a 1.56 ERA across all three levels of the Phillies' minor league system in 2022.

"This franchise is cursed. I cannot believe it" one fan tweeted.

"We can't have anything nice," another fan tweeted.

Philadelphia Phillies fans think that Andrew Painter is just delaying the inevitable. They think if he tries to pitch through the injury, he will end up needing Tommy John later down the road.

Nobody likes seeing exciting young prospects go down with an injury. Hopefully, Painter's injury is just minor, and it is something he can work through without further damage.

If he can work through it, expect Andrew Painter to round out the Philadelphia Phillies' starting rotation

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Andrew Painter was expected to round out the Philadelphia Phillies' starting rotation. Now, they may just stick with a five-man rotation. The Phillies could roll out a rotation that consists of Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Ranger Suarez, Taijuan Walker and Bailey Falter. A five-man rotation isn't ideal as it limits the rest of the days between starts, but teams have done it in the past.

Aaron Nola was in a similar situation to what Painter is in now in 2016. Nola received platelet-rich plasma injections and was able to pitch through it. He credits the injury for teaching him how to really be a pitcher. He could use his legs more and stop relying on just his arm.

If there is any chance that Painter can push through this injury, he will. He doesn't want to lose out this season.