“All right,” Luzardo said. “We’re on the same team.”
“I don’t think I could’ve been happier,” Painter said.
Luzardo, 28, and Painter, 22, are South Florida natives. They have a history. Painter was a wide-eyed kid when he first watched Luzardo pitch for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. They later trained together in the offseason at Cressey Sports Performance. They played pickleball. (It’s unclear who’s better.) But their friendship became more meaningful in Dec. 2024, when the Marlins traded Luzardo to the Phillies. On Monday, Luzardo and Painter threw live BPs to Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto, Bryson Stott, Alec Bohm and Brandon Marsh at BayCare Ballpark. In the next several days, they will make their Grapefruit League debuts.
In a few weeks, they are expected to be in the Phillies’ rotation.
Luzardo went 15-7 with a 3.92 ERA in 32 starts last season. He finished seventh in NL Cy Young voting. He would have finished higher, if not for a surreal two-start stretch midseason in which he allowed 20 earned runs in 5 2/3 innings.
Painter, meanwhile, is the Phillies’ No. 2 prospect and the No. 28 prospect in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline. He is trying to complete the long road back from Tommy John surgery.
Luzardo has helped Painter throughout his comeback.
“He was a guy that got TJ early in his career,” Painter said about Luzardo, who had the surgery as a high school senior. “So last year, coming into Spring Training, he took me under his wing. He was a guy that experienced it early … [he told me] not to ride the highs and lows too much. He’s the one that’s always told me that the second year back from TJ is when you’re going to feel your best.”
This will be Painter’s second season following Tommy John surgery. He went 5-8 with a 5.26 ERA in 26 starts last season with Single-A Clearwater and Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He lacked command at times. His arm angle dropped, which affected everything.
“It’s kind of hard to keep up with that stuff,” Painter said. “You don’t want to mess with it in-season.”
But Painter worked this offseason to get back to his previous spot.
“It felt kind of weird, getting back to that,” he said. “You know, some of the drills and just the catch play, trying to get back to that movement pattern. I’d say after about a month of every day just focusing on that, it kind of just became muscle memory. There’s not much thought behind the mechanics with the arm slot when I’m throwing out there. I think that’s the best way to be.
“I just dropped a little bit. There were multiple things that kind of happened throughout the year, so just trying to get rid of those bad habits that I created last year and get back to usual.”
He said he sees himself commanding pitches to both sides of the plate again.
“And the misses haven’t been as big,” he said.
Painter throws his fastballs, a variety of breaking balls and a changeup. He is trying to throw the sweeper that he threw before Tommy John surgery, gripping the ball from the side and throwing it like a fastball. The changeup has been a work in progress for some time. Painter describes it as a borderline splitter, meaning he digs his index and middle fingers deep to grip the ball.
But that grip caused frequent blisters.
The cure? Just wait for that part of his finger to callous.
“Just tear it, tear it, start without it, tear it again,” Painter said. “After enough times of that, I think my finger knew what was going on.”
It’s an exciting time. Painter is moving closer to making his big league debut. He is on a team with a chance to win. He is teammates with his friend and sometimes pickleball rival.
“No limitations this year,” Painter said.
“I’ve known him since he was in high school,” Luzardo said. “I’d heard about him from a distance. Then getting to know him throughout the years, we work out together, just seeing the way he goes about his business, how he is off the field as a human, I’m just really excited for him and looking forward to helping him along the way with whatever he needs.”
