Philly Leader

The Philadelphia Phillies have announced their 23 non-roster invitees for Spring Training, which includes their top three prospects: shortstop Aidan Miller, right-hander Andrew Painter, and outfielder Justin Crawford.

Andrew Painter, the Phillies' leading pitching prospect and ranked No. 32 overall by MLB Pipeline, is expected to make his major league debut this season after recovering from Tommy John surgery. Dave Dombrowski, the team's president of baseball operations, indicated that Painter will not pitch in any Spring Training games but will participate in a specialized pitching program in Clearwater. The plan aims to preserve his arm for later in the season with a potential debut around July.

“We think it’s a good plan,” Dombrowski stated on December 23. “He’ll build up at some point through the Minors, but we’re going to save a lot of his innings until we get to July-ish for the big league level. It might be June, it might be August, but you can’t use too many of them at the Minor League level.”

Aidan Miller, who was selected 27th overall in the 2023 Draft, will attend big league camp for the first time. Last year he progressed from Single-A Clearwater to High-A Jersey Shore and concluded with Double-A Reading.

Justin Crawford, turning 21 recently and picked 17th overall in the 2022 Draft, also makes his inaugural appearance at Major League camp. He played last season between High-A Jersey Shore and Double-A Reading with notable statistics including a .313/.360/.444 slash line and 42 stolen bases over 110 games.

The complete list of non-roster invitees includes:

Catchers: Josh Breaux, Payton Henry, Paul McIntosh (No. 30), Caleb Ricketts (No. 22)

Infielders: Rodolfo Castro, Otto Kemp (No. 25), Rafael Lantigua, Miller (No. 1), Carson Taylor

Outfielders: Crawford (No. 3), Gabriel Rincones Jr. (No. 10)

Utility: Matt Kroon

Right-handers: Nabil Crismatt, José Cuas, Joel Kuhnel, Griff McGarry (No. 20), John McMillon, Nicholas Padilla, Painter (No. 2), Austin Schulfer, Guillo Zuñiga

Left-handers: Tristan Garnett, Nick Vespi