fantasy football Jarad Wilk Andrew Painter’s emergence headlines pitchers who can make late-season fantasy baseball difference By Jarad Wilk Published Sep. 5, 2026, 1:48 p.m. ET Andrew Painter of the Philadelphia Phillies delivers a pitch against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, on Sept. 2, 2026. Getty Images They says good things come to those who wait.
Fantasy managers who have waited on the Phillies’ Andrew Painter through injuries, setbacks and enough rehab updates to qualify for a medical degree finally appear to be getting the pay off they deserve — or at least believed would come one day.
The right-hander is showing why patience is a virtue and why, sometimes, the best pickups are the one’s you’ve been waiting to make.
Painter was the Phillies’ first-round pick (13th overall) in the 2021 draft and quickly became one of the top pitching prospects, going 6-2 with a 1.56 ERA and 0.887 WHIP across three leagues in 2022. That included going 2-1 with a 2.54 ERA, 11.8 strikeouts per nine and a 0.95 WHIP in five Double-A starts as a 19-year-old.
