Garrett Stubbs is remaining in the Phillies organization.
The team announced Saturday that the catcher has cleared waivers and has been outrighted to triple-A Lehigh Valley. Stubbs had been designated for assignment on Wednesday.
The Phillies had searched for a trade partner for Stubbs, who also saw time in the outfield and at third base this spring, to potentially find a major league opportunity for him last week. Stubbs, 32, could have elected free agency after clearing waivers, but he accepted the minor league assignment and the Phillies retain some crucial catching depth at triple A.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson said this week that on a personal level, he had hoped Stubbs would find a major league job, but from a Phillies perspective he hoped he would stay in the organization.
“He’s meant so much to this place, the energy that he brings, the type of teammate that he is, and he’s a good player, too,” Thomson said. “Unfortunately, when he was here, he was behind the best catcher in baseball, so he didn’t get a whole lot of playing time, but I think he showed us enough in spring training that he’s a potential super utility guy.”
Stubbs spent most of last season with the IronPigs, where he hit .265 with a .754 OPS in 71 games. He has a career .215 batting average and .603 OPS in 197 games with the Phillies and Houston Astros.
The Phillies opted to keep Rafael Marchán, a 27-year-old switch-hitter, as J.T. Realmuto’s backup for the second consecutive season. During spring training, the Phillies considered keeping Stubbs on the roster as the 26th man, which was why he took reps at other defensive positions than catcher. That spot ultimately went to former Gold Glove utility player Dylan Moore.
Thomson said that the conversation he had with Stubbs informing him that he had not made the team was one of the toughest of his career.
deGrom scratched
Several hours before first pitch on Saturday at a chilly Citizens Bank Park, Texas Rangers starting right-handed pitcher Jacob deGrom was scratched from the game with neck stiffness. Lefty Jacob Latz started in his place.
Thomson opted not to change his batting order after the pitching change, with Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh both remaining in the lineup against the left-hander rather than drawing out for their right-handed platoon partners Edmundo Sosa and Otto Kemp.
Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh will remain in the lineup against Texas left-handed pitcher Jacob Latz.
The Phillies are expecting to face a string of left-handed starters this homestand, and Thomson said he did not want Stott or Marsh sitting on the bench for too many days in a row, especially following Friday’s off day.
Extra bases
Zack Wheeler (thoracic outlet decompression surgery) and Orion Kerkering (hamstring strain) both began rehab assignments on Saturday in Lehigh Valley. Wheeler is scheduled to start again Friday in Durham in triple A, and will make another start after that for double-A Reading. Kerkering is next scheduled to pitch a back-to-back on Tuesday and Wednesday in triple A. … Jesús Luzardo is scheduled to start Sunday (1:35 p.m., NBCSP) against Rangers lefty MacKenzie Gore. The Phillies announced Saturday that The Jesús Luzardo Family Foundation has pledged to donate $150 to the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs of Philadelphia for every strikeout he records this year.
DETROIT ― While everyone waited with bated breath to see if there was one more move the Flyers were going to make at the buzzer of the NHL trade deadline, a tweet went out.
“Roster update: We have claimed forward Luke Glendening off waivers,” the post read.
It was a bit surprising, considering everyone was hoping for that 1C or 1D to find their way to Philly. Instead, the Flyers picked up a gritty veteran from the New Jersey Devils who can play wing and center.
The move may have appeared to be a minor one, but the 36-year-old has slotted in nicely on the fourth line with Sean Couturier and Garnet Hathaway, and on the penalty kill.
But what he has also brought is something that the Flyers were severely lacking. Entering the season, the Flyers’ five centers — Christian Dvorak, Trevor Zegras, Couturier, Noah Cates, and Rodrigo Ābols — are all left-handed. Glendening, who came to Philly with a career 55.6% winning percentage in the faceoff circle, is a righty.
“It really has added a lot to our team,” coach Rick Tocchet said of having a right-handed center whom Jon Cooper raved to him about. “Think, since I put that line together, they’re an identity line for us. But it’s also on the PK, having that right-handed shot — Coots all year has done a nice job [but] it’s hard to play both dots all the time — so it is a luxury.”
Having a righty is more important than most realize, especially in the defensive zone when the faceoff is in the right circle, which would be Couturier’s weak side, because his stick would line up angled to the net, not the boards. Teams would take advantage of that, especially on icings where the offensive team dictates the circle used; however, with Glendening, things are evened out.
“He’s a smart, reliable defensive player, really strong on faceoffs. Used to hate going against him in the draws; it was always a battle,” Couturier said. “Probably chopped your wrist off if you got too low. So it’s nice to have it on my side.”
Glendening has four points (one goal, three assists) and a 60% winning rate on faceoffs since joining the Flyers. He will suit up on Saturday for his eighth game with the Orange and Black in one of the biggest games of the season against the Detroit Red Wings (8 p.m., ABC) in an all-too-familiar place.
About 2½ hours northwest of Detroit in Grand Rapids, Glendening grew up playing hockey. He didn’t join the famous Little Caesars Hockey program, which has produced over 100 pros like former Flyers John Vanbiesbrouck, Mike Knuble, and Derian Hatcher.
Luke Glendening was acquired by the Flyers during the NHL trade deadline.
Instead, he played four years of hockey at East Grand Rapids High School and a year at The Hotchkiss School in Connecticut. He spent four years at the University of Michigan, where he served as captain for two years and went to the national championship as a junior. (The Wolverines lost to Minnesota-Duluth, where Cates played, and “He’ll always have that over me,” the older Glendening joked, with the two teams meeting again in a regional final on Sunday.)
After playing three games with Providence of the American Hockey League on a tryout agreement once his college career was over, he signed a deal with his hometown Grand Rapids Griffins. Glendening spent most of the season in Michigan, but also suited up for 27 games with Toledo of the ECHL.
The next summer, he inked a deal with his childhood team, the Red Wings, and made his NHL debut, somewhat fittingly now in hindsight, against the Flyers.
“I think dream come true is probably overused, but for me, it really was,” he said. “I signed in the American League, played in the Coast [ECHL], and never thought that I was going to play in the NHL, and then to get a chance to play with my hometown team was really special.”
Glendening spent eight seasons with the Red Wings, even playing for his childhood favorite-turned-team-general-manager, Steve Yzerman, toward the end. He was with the Dallas Stars, who the Flyers see on Sunday at home (7 p.m., NBCSP) for two seasons, two seasons with Cooper and the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Devils this season.
It’s always special for the Michigander to not just come back home — he’ll have a family contingent in the crowd — but to the first place he stepped onto the ice as an NHLer.
When you mention to him that he’s inching toward 1,000 NHL games, Glendening will humbly say he’s not really that close. But, if he plays the rest of the way this season and 65 the next, he’ll hit the milestone mark.
“I’ve just always found joy in the journey, I guess would be the best way to put it,” he said.
“It’s been a huge blessing to be around this league. There’s been many different stops along the way, and times when I didn’t know if it was going to continue, but just thankful for each and every day I get.”
Breakaways
Dan Vladař will start in goal for the Flyers. The expectation is that Sam Ersson will then tend the twine on Sunday against Dallas. Forward Tyson Foerster made the trip and participated in morning skate in a regular jersey. Per Tocchet, don’t read too much into it as morning skate prep work was not a contact-heavy skate.
The New York Sirens and Montreal Victoire of the PWHL played at 1 p.m. to a packed house at Little Caesars Arena.
It’s never fashionable to be optimistic about sports in Philadelphia, but at this moment, convention be damned.
It’s been maybe 16 years since all four Philadelphia teams provided as much near-future hope as they provided in a 24-hour period between Wednesday night and Thursday night.
The Sixers won, then the Eagles got great news, then the Phillies won, then the Flyers won. Hurrah.
I understand the reluctance to embrace this wellspring of positivity, and I realize that everything could go south with the next twinge in Joel Embiid‘s knee. But hope springs eternal, and it’s only been a week since spring has sprung, so enjoy the warmth of the weather and the moment.
Nothing happened Friday, so Philly entered the weekend on an unaccustomed high.
On Wednesday, the Sixers beat the Bulls by 20. They scored 157 points, their most in 56 years. They did it without their best player, Tyrese Maxey.
The Flyers beat the Blackhawks and did it without their best, or at least their most important player, Dan Vladař.
Sixers
The Sixers went first, and best. Granted, the Bulls are 14 games under .500, but Paul George, in his return from a 25-game suspension for violating the NBA’s antidrug policy, looked like he’s 25, not 35, for one game at least. Embiid seemed to realize his limitations, in that he didn’t play like a freshman trying to make varsity.
More than anything, though, rookie VJ Edgecombe, the franchise’s most exciting true rookie since Allen Iverson, took his latest step forward. In his last four games — all without Maxey and the first three without Embiid and George — Edgecombe averaged 29.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 6.3 assists. He shot 54.8% from the floor and hit 48.4% of his three-pointers.
Considering the abysmal state of the Eastern Conference — Detroit’s Cade Cunningham is injured, the Celtics are flawed, the Knicks are a mirage, and the Cavaliers have James Harden — a fully fortified Sixers lineup can beat almost anyone.
Joel Embiid returned from a 13-game absence in the Sixers’ 20-point win on Wednesday.
Maxey and Kelly Oubre Jr. also returned Saturday.
Sixers coach Nick Nurse was so happy about the previous and imminent returns that he actually smiled after Friday’s practice.
“I’m certainly more optimistic now,” said Nurse, who considers the recent dependency on reserves as building depth that otherwise would not exist. “If you add all those things up — other guys getting valuable growth, and these guys coming back — the sum of all of that together could be pretty good.”
Edgecombe might wear down, but the other four starters should be fresh.
“Definitely got some good rest,” said Maxey, who leads the league at 38.3 minutes per game.
Again, with this assemblage of vanity and fragility, anything can happen. The Sixers are scheduled to visit the surging Hornets on Saturday and the dangerous Heat on Monday, which will provide a better sense of where this team is right now.
Birds
The Eagles struggled last season mainly because of injuries along their offensive line, the best unit during their 13-year run of relevance. Early Friday afternoon, news broke that Pro Bowl center Cam Jurgens was saying the stem cell treatments on his back were already working.
Wheeler, who had a rib removed to address thoracic outlet syndrome, was scheduled to begin a 30-day rehab stint on Saturday — 60 days early.
Last year’s cleanup hitter, Alec Bohm, batting cleanup on opening day, hit a three-run homer, a few weeks after Bryce Harper opened spring training by ripping last year’s cleanup hitters. Bohm did this on the day news broke that he’s suing his own parents for ripping him off.
Andrew Painter, who lost two seasons to elbow surgery then stunk in triple A in 2025, gave up just three runs in four starts in spring training. He’s scheduled to pitch Tuesday against the visiting Nationals.
Flyers
The Flyers are 10-3-1 in their last 14 games. With 82 points they’re unlikely to make the playoffs — they trail the last wild-card spot by five points and have to get past three teams — but they’re playing very good hockey, and with 11 games to play, they could reach the 90-point mark for the first time since 2018. Second-year talent Matvei Michkov has matured. Vladař and veteran defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen are under contract through next season.
And it might be next season before the Flyers really matter.
However, for the rest of the teams, the time is now.
Three days before Temple’s women’s lacrosse season opener, Bonnie Rosen had an unexpected visitor join the longtime coach and her team at practice.
Two trumpeter swans, a protected bird species not native to Philadelphia, flew onto Howarth Field, giving Rosen another new experience in her coaching journey. One flew off, but the other hung around.
Rosen and the team spent the day working with a biology professor from Temple and a volunteer animal rescuer to capture and properly release the swan. It was something Rosen never thought she would be doing.
“It’s never a dull moment and there’s always something new,” said Rosen, who has been at the helm for 20 years at Temple.
It was just the latest memory in a career full of success for Rosen. Her achievements stack up against some of the best to ever coach women’s lacrosse. She has more than 230 career wins, has been to 12 conference tournaments, two NCAA Tournaments and is a member of both the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame and Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame.
Through the years, Rosen has adapted to the changes in the sport. After a down 2025 season, she led the Owls to eight straight wins to open 2026, their best start since 1988, when they went undefeated and won the national championship. Temple is 8-4.
“I’m just super grateful to be doing something that I love and didn’t know when I was growing up that this is what I was going to do,” Rosen said. “But it’s been a great journey and I hope I have many, many, many more years to coach.”
Unlocking a passion
Rosen, a Bala Cynwyd native, was a standout lacrosse and field hockey player at Harriton High School. She played both sports at the University of Virginia, winning a lacrosse national championship in 1991 and being named MVP in both sports as a senior.
She played 13 years on the U.S. women’s national lacrosse team, where she won gold medals in 1997 and 2001 in the World Cup championships.
Coaching never really crossed her mind, as she had other career interests.
“The people I met are what kind of drove me into coaching,” Rosen said. “I was on track and was really interested in being a physical therapist. I really enjoy the medicine side of things. I really enjoy working with people and that was kind of my plan.”
Before Temple, Bonnie Rosen got her start as an assistant coach at Yale under Amanda O’Leary.
When Rosen crossed paths with former Temple standout Amanda O’Leary, now in her 16th season at the University of Florida, it was 1994 and O’Leary had recently completed her first season at Yale. She was looking for a new assistant coach and convinced Rosen to take the job.
Within three months, Rosen knew she had found her purpose.
“Having watched her play — she is somebody who just played with so much lacrosse IQ. It was off the charts,” said O’Leary, one of the winningest head coaches in women’s college lacrosse. “She knew the game, she was a constant competitor. When I made the phone call, I really wanted her to join me. She was somebody who I had been watching and I knew she would be an amazing addition to my staff. It was everything that I could ask for.”
At Yale, Rosen was on staff for a team that won the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division I championship in 1995 and finished second in the Ivy League in 1996.
In 1997, she decided to take the next step in her coaching career.
UConn was starting its women’s lacrosse program and reached out to Rosen with an offer to become the head coach. She knew it was an opportunity she could not pass up.
“I was like, ‘Well, it’s down the road. I don’t need to be a head coach, but I think I could be a really good head coach, I should throw my hat in the ring,’” Rosen said. “[O’Leary] was super supportive of me and looking back, it was so gracious of her because I ended up leaving midyear.”
Building a legacy at Temple
Rosen never imagined leaving the program she helped launch. However, after a decade with the Huskies, she needed to be closer to her family to take care of her father.
She was hired at Temple before the 2007 season. Departing from the program she helped start was difficult, but Rosen knew it was for the better.
“One of the first big emotional decisions in my life was when I knew the job opened up, that I had to go after it,” Rosen said. “Because I had been thinking, ‘Am I going to be forced at some point to decide to move back home and have to leave a profession — because family meant the world to me?’ So when the job opened up, it was like, I’ve got to go.
“Fortunately, Temple felt the same way about me.”
Temple coach Bonnie Rosen, a Bala Cynwyd native who graduated from Harriton High School, joined the Owls in 2007.
Rosen guided the Owls to the NCAA Tournament in her second season at the helm, which marked the program’s first appearance in four years. Temple has since been a regular contender in its conferences, which have included the Atlantic 10, Big East, and now the American.
She had arguably her most successful season in 2021, as she guided Temple to a 7-3 record in the American and an NCAA Tournament victory, its first since 1998.
“Quite honestly, there was nobody that I could even imagine taking over that program that I knew would do a better job than her,” O’Leary said. “She is just so committed not only to the successes of her players on the field, but more importantly, to their successes off the field.”
More than a coach
California coach Jennifer Wong, who played for Rosen at UConn and spent 14 years across two stints on her staff at Temple, cherishes the relationship she built with Rosen and her ability to connect with players and coaches on a human level.
“She really just cares about everyone as human beings,” Wong said. “Like, yes, we are in it to win lacrosse games, and she goes for it. It’s not like she holds back. But whenever any player or any staff member needs anything, Bonnie pauses and she’s there for them as a human.”
Her style of coaching has led to several graduates continuing to show support for the program as alumni.
Bonnie Rosen says coaching is about “trying to understand growing and not just focusing on success.”
“She has the ability to recruit such an amazing group of girls,” senior midfielder Sabrina Martin said. “Our team gets along so well, and I don’t think I would change that for anything. It goes back to the player connection piece. … We all just get along so well. All truly best friends.”
Over 30 years, Rosen has impacted countless players and coaches as a head coach, and she does not plan on stopping soon.
“It’s why I stay coaching because I think all the lessons from coaching are the same things I apply to life,” Rosen said. “Coach people, don’t just coach the game. It is always about trying to understand growing and not just focusing on success.”
Last November, Parc switched the martini listed on their menu from their Nicoise martini to Le Dirty Martini ($16), a straightforward Wheatley Vodka-based cocktail with a heavy splash of olive brine and garnished with pitted queen olives.
For those of us who were fans of Parc’s pink-hued Nicoise martini, served in a Nick and Nora glass and garnished with a much smaller olive, the switch came as a surprise.
You can still order a Nicoise martini off-menu, which is technically a dirty martini (which uses olive brine), “as I was utilizing crossover [items] from the kitchen,” said Mark Murphy, the director of bar operations for all of Starr Restaurants. “But they may not have it quickly at the ready.”
Now, on an average Friday night, Parc is serving over 80 dirty martinis.
The martini at Andra Hem on July 2, 2025 in Philadelphia.
“Dirty martinis have quickly jumped to our biggest “off-menu” order,” confirmed Murphy.
Readers noted that The Inquirer’s guide to Philly’s best martinis skewed toward dirty martinis, rather than a classic version. But with data in hand, it’s clear that Philly’s martini tastes have actually changed, and that we are getting dirtier.
“Over the last two years there’s about a 33% increase in dirty martinis ordered,” said Murphy, who regularly scans Parc’s off-menu sales and realized that he should probably just put a dirty martini on the regular cocktail menu “to meet guest expectations and help bartenders with their speed of service.”
The Fleur’s martini in Philadelphia on Jan. 2, 2026.
Murphy has noticed customers move away from specialty cocktails. “With a food menu, you can only order what’s on the menu. With a wine menu, you can only order what’s on the wine menu. But with a cocktail menu, you can order what’s on the menu or you can say, ‘I will just have a dirty martini’ or something else.”
Murphy believes that this increase in attention to classic cocktails is a “cost sensitivity thing that has happened with rising prices. If 10 years ago, you or I walked into a bar or restaurant and saw something on the menu that had a good number of ingredients we weren’t sure about, but the cocktail was $12, we’d go ‘yeah, sure, let’s try this $12 drink and see what happens.’ But $12 is no longer the average price of a cocktail, and more often, we’re seeing cocktails around $20.
“So when drinks are not accessible, even in terms of simplicity, I think people are wanting value for what they know they can spend $16 on and get three ounces of vodka in a glass with brine that tastes good,” said Murphy.
Even while Gen Z is drinking less or zebra-striping (alternating alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks), “according to Parc (and other Starr restaurants) not massive amounts [less] as the articles might indicate,” observed Murphy. “What I notice a bit more is a shift in sales. Some away from wine, and some away from specialty cocktails, and more towards … wait for it … dirty martinis [and other simple standards].”
He also acknowledges that there may be a change in customers’ palates. This trend is the least trendy of trends, but it does align with a propensity toward savory cocktails — a thread that has been winding through more avant garde cocktails, like Almanac’s konbini-inspired ones.
Coupled with the explosion of popularity in Del Frisco’s social media-dubbed “girl dinner,” which features half a dozen oysters, truffle fries, Caesar salad, and a dirty martini (though you have the option to get a different cocktail), dirty martini consumption is truly trending.
Though, admittedly, this is not necessarily the case at every single Philly establishment. I checked in with Fiorella, famous for the dirty pasta water martini ($17) and they reported a wavering in sales over the years (they sold 5,116 of the cocktails in 2023, 4,500 in 2024, and 4,667 last year). Their brown butter old-fashioned remains their most ordered cocktail through the years.
And what cocktail beats out Parc’s Le Dirty Martini in terms of sales? It’s their Cafe Parc or espresso martini ($17) with vanilla-infused Wheatley Vodka, Amaro, and Caffe Borghetti coffee liqueur. Dirty martinis might be on the rise, but espresso martinis aren’t going anywhere.
So, you say you want to get to know Andrew Painter better?
Ask him about pickleball.
No, wait, not just about the paddle game, which the Phillies‘ best pitching prospect in 20 years enjoys playing after offseason workouts in South Florida. Get him to explain his “signature move,” Spencer Stockton teases, and well, how do you not take that bait?
“I had the ‘skyball,’” Painter says.
The skyball?
“I just hit it up real high,” Painter continues, leaving out the part about yelling “Skyball” at the top of his lungs. “You can ask [Jesús] Luzardo about it. He never returned it. It wasn’t always in. No one ever figured out how to hit it. It was out of bounds most of the time.”
A trick serve that borders on the absurd and has little chance of actually landing inside the lines? It’s goofy. And quintessentially Painter, scheduled to make the most highly anticipated major-league debut by a Phillies pitcher since Cole Hamels on Tuesday night at home against the Nationals.
He goes by Andrew on the mound but Andy around friends and peers, most of whom describe him with a common adjective: “happy-go-lucky.” That characterization applied even last October, according to Stockton, who didn’t know what to expect when Painter walked back into Cressey Sports Performance in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., where many major-league pitchers train in the offseason.
Phillies fans have heard about Painter for years, since he dominated three levels of the minor leagues in 2022. In 2023, at age 19, he was competing in spring training for a rotation spot — and probably would’ve made the team — when he tore a ligament in his elbow. Rest and rehab didn’t work. He had surgery four months later.
It was 15 months before Painter would pitch in a game. And after he overpowered hitters for six weeks in 2024 in the Arizona Fall League, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, who likened Painter before surgery to Justin Verlander, infamously said the 6-foot-7 righty might be ready for the majors by last “July-ish.”
Phillies pitcher Andrew Painter had a 2.31 ERA in four spring starts.
But Painter struggled in his first exposure to triple A. Like most pitchers who are returning from Tommy John surgery, his fastball command came and went. His arm angle dipped. He made 22 triple-A starts, not missing any, but posted a 5.40 ERA.
“July-ish” turned into, well, nothing. Painter made his final triple-A start on Sept. 17 and went home once the season ended.
Stockton, a former minor-league pitcher with the Reds and now a coach at Cressey, didn’t know what frame of mind his former pickleball partner would be in when he got there.
“I expected him to be maybe a little morose about what had happened,” Stockton said by phone. “I assumed he was probably going to be a little disappointed. But it was kind of the opposite. He was very driven and very realistic about what happened.”
And now, at last, Painter is ready for his close-up.
When he finally takes the mound in Citizens Bank Park, it will be 1,126 days since Painter’s ill-fated spring-training start in 2023 and 980 since his surgery — and 10 days shy of his 23rd birthday. Painter will still be the youngest pitcher to start a game for the Phillies since Ranger Suárez on Aug. 16, 2018.
Maybe some of the prospect shine has dulled since Baseball America named Painter as the best pitcher in the minors in 2022. But the expectations are every bit as grand as ever.
“I’ve always followed him because he’s a friend of the family,” said former Phillies manager Joe Girardi, whose son, Dante, played with Painter in high school. “Andrew went through somewhat of a traumatic experience, where he had to rehab his elbow and deal with a lot. It’s great to see him back. We’re pulling for him.”
Andrew Painter, who pitched in the Under Armour All-America Game in 2019 at Wrigley Field, was a high school star in Florida.
The rise
Painter pitched in high school at Calvary Christian Academy, a powerhouse program in Fort Lauderdale. As a freshman, he was the No. 4 starter in a rotation that included future Mets right-hander Christian Scott.
It wasn’t long before Painter moved up the ranks.
The talent was overwhelming. Girardi recalled attending a tournament at USA Baseball’s headquarters in Cary, N.C., in 2018. Painter faced a team from Mississippi and took a perfect game into the sixth inning.
“I looked at [his wife] Kim, and I said, ‘There’s a first-round pick in waiting,’” Girardi said by phone. “It was 90 mph; four pitches. He could command them all. He was thin. He hadn’t filled out yet. But there was just so much potential there. You could just see that he was going to be special.”
Yet Painter seemed unfazed by it all. He took baseball seriously, especially while he was on the mound. But around friends and teammates, he didn’t take himself seriously.
To wit: Painter, who towered over most teammates, walked into the high-profile National High School Invitational in North Carolina with a Kermit the Frog backpack slung over his shoulders, former Calvary Christian coach Alan Kunkel recalled.
Girardi remembered Painter begging the coaches to let him hit in batting practice. He shagged fly balls in the outfield with such zeal that Girardi would utter, “Please don’t get hurt.”
“You saw Andy’s comedic side early,” Kunkel said by phone. “Andy’s always been pretty low-key and shy and just kind of quirky and very funny, very witty. But he’s never wanted to be the guy that’s drawing all the attention.”
Indeed, Painter will talk forever about college football (he’s a Florida Gators fan) or video games, or his adventures in posting up Max Scherzer in a pickup basketball game after workouts at Cressey. He just isn’t about to post his pitching clips on Instagram.
Never mind that he was well-known in the South Florida high school baseball world. Luzardo, a prospect in the Nationals’ farm system at the time, heard of Painter and recalls watching him in high school. People would inevitably notice him — “It’s not like you can miss him, man, at 6-6, 6-7,” Kunkel said — but not because he drew attention to himself.
“We live in a very vain time where, man, it’s hard to find supercompetitive kids that are willing to just grind and put in the time and not care who gets credit for it,” Kunkel said. “Andy is one of those kids. Andy has never cared about the vanity of the sport, or cared about being posterized or put on social media. He’s just wanted to be a big leaguer and just continue to compete.”
Andrew Painter can appear laid back, but he’s “no more, no less of a competitor than the most competitive kid that I’ve ever coached,” said Alan Kunkel, his former high school coach.
At times, Kunkel said Painter’s laid-back demeanor would create the wrong impression. Pro scouts often asked about his competitiveness. Kunkel was there to offer reassurance.
“He’s no more, no less of a competitor than the most competitive kid that I’ve ever coached,” Kunkel said. “I always said he’s got the heart rate to be a surgeon or to be a big league pitcher. Ninth inning, World Series moment, I don’t know that that would bother him any more than having to perform heart surgery on somebody for people who have the talent and drive to do that.”
The Phillies got several up-close looks at Painter in high school. In addition to area scout Victor Gomez, who attended almost all of Painter’s starts in a 12-month span leading up to the draft, amateur scouting director Brian Barber saw him pitch five times in the summer of 2020 and twice in the spring of ‘21.
Oh, and they had plenty of inside information on Painter. Girardi was managing the Phillies in 2021. Brian Kaplan, whom the Phillies hired after the 2021 season as director of pitching development, coached Painter at Cressey Sports.
The only question, it seemed, was whether Painter would still be on the board when the Phillies made the 13th overall pick.
“I do remember going into that morning [of the draft] thinking, if you had me guess on who we were going to take, it was going to be Andy Painter,” Barber said. “I thought he had a chance to get there, and I knew if he was going to get there, we were going to take him.”
It was the second consecutive year that the Phillies drafted a high school pitcher in the first round. On Aug. 6, 2022, Mick Abel and Painter started back-to-back in an A-ball doubleheader in Lakewood, N.J. Abel allowed three hits and three walks and struck out eight in six scoreless innings. Painter one-upped him across the board: two hits, one walk, 11 strikeouts in seven scoreless innings.
“The guy is just an alien,” Abel said a few days later. “He’s awesome.”
Andrew Painter’s parents and new fiancée will be at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday for his major league debut against the Nationals.
The return
Imagine being 19 years old and “on a rocket ship to what looked like superstardom,” as Barber put it. Now imagine having it taken away.
How would you cope?
Painter became a grillmaster.
“He kind of ventured off and learned how to cook and enjoyed testing out new types of meats and things of that nature,” Kunkel said. “My man was researching seasonings; he was researching meat types. He’s very proud of his cooking arsenal right now.”
Last season left a sour taste in Painter’s mouth. He got through it healthy, which was the most important part. And there were restrictions. For example, he wasn’t allowed to long-toss from beyond 120 feet.
But upon returning to South Florida, Painter was energized by the idea of a normal offseason. He got together with Stockton and Phillies assistant pitching coach Mark Lowy, who previously worked at Cressey Sports, to dig in on why triple-A hitters slugged .585 against his fastball last season.
Among their discoveries: Painter’s arm slot dipped from its presurgery position, which impacted the shape of his heater. The Phillies identified the issue during the season but were cautious among making changes in a competitive environment.
“He got into some subpar throwing positions, but he was athletic enough to still throw 100,” Stockton said. “When things go wrong and you’ve never struggled, you start to throw things at the wall that maybe aren’t necessarily the best things for you. I think that’s kind of what he ran into last year, and it was like, ‘Well, how do I fix it?’”
Start by long-tossing from greater distances. There were other drills, too. Stockton gave Painter a red, 6-pound ball and had him throw it as hard as he could from the mound, then do the same with a regular ball. As the shape of his fastball returned, the usual movement came back, too.
Painter and Luzardo worked out together six days a week with Stockton beginning in November. Painter worked on his changeup, which he threw a lot, especially to righties, in spring training. He worked on separating his sweeper from his traditional slider. He also lost about 15 pounds to get back to 225.
But Stockton noticed something else about Painter.
“He was just very motivated to get going from Day 1,” he said. “It’s a testament to how far he’s come. When he was 18-19, even when he was in high school and we were all training together, as you would expect from a kid that throws 100 in high school, he was a little immature. But that was only four years ago, and he’s leaps and bounds ahead of that.
“It helps him for the future. Is he going to be a Cy Young [winner] this year, or even Rookie of the Year? Chances are, he probably won’t. But when you can get some of these things out of the way at 22-23, those shortcomings that you have early on when you’re supposed to be the guy, it helps the career arc a little bit.”
Surely, they squeezed in some time for pickleball, too. The “skyball” doesn’t get better without practice.
But everything will come into focus Tuesday night. Painter’s parents and new fiancée (he got engaged last month) will be there. Kunkel, who now coaches at a high school in Orlando, is even skipping a game — “The first game I’ve ever missed as a high school coach, man,” he said — to be there with his wife and daughters.
Maybe even Hamels, who works for the Phillies, will be in attendance.
“Sometimes with young pitchers, you worry about them trying to do too much, and it can manifest itself with a lack of control or getting hurt,” Girardi said. “I think he learned from that experience, and I think he’s going be better for it, and I think he’s prepared for what’s coming up.”
When done well, cheung fun, or Cantonese steamed rice rolls, are made to order and don’t need fillings or toppings to be delicious. Wrapped around beef and Chinese savory crullers, (youtiao), they’re a popular item at dim sum. But the best cheung fun is typically found at vendors dedicated to the silken, slippery, wide noodles, who specialize in perfecting the cheung fun’s crepe-like layers.
Susie Ruan and her husband, Jackie, opened Hen Ji Hou Wei Xuan Cheung Fun, a cheung fun-dedicated storefront at 50 N. 10th St. at the end of January. They relocated from Lewisburg, where they owned and operated a restaurant by the same name in Chinese (but spelled Heng Ji in English). They served standard Chinese American classics there, like broccoli beef with rice, salt and pepper shrimp, and orange chicken, as well as hot pot.
Hen Ji Hou Wei Xuan Cheung Fun, 50 N. 10th St., in Philadelphia. It opened at the end of January
They closed their Lewisburg location at the end of December and relocated to Philadelphia to devote themselves to the art of the steamed rice roll. “We just love making cheung fun!” said Susie, who is originally from Guangdong.
And the Ruans’ are indeed excellent and made fresh to order. Unlike the cheung fun found at most dim sum spots, these are not wrapped around a meat or youtiao filling. Tucked between the gossamer-thin noodle‘s delicate wrinkles are unctuous bits of beef or sliced char siu pork.
Beef bone soup from Hen Ji Hou Wei Xuan Cheung Fun.
Soy sauce, red wine vinegar, and chili oil, found on its counter, are available (and encouraged) as condiments.
Hen Ji Hou Wei Xuan Cheung Fun also serves hearty beef bone broths, skewers of fish balls, and enormous bowls of thin but hearty congee, topped with slivers of fresh ginger. It joins Yin Ji Rice Roll in Chinatown, which opened a year ago, as a cheung fun-focused establishment.
Pork congee from Hen Ji Hou Wei Xuan Cheung Fun.
Hen Ji Hou Wei Xuan Cheung Fun, 50 N. 10th St., 267-888-3233. Open seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Counter seating and take-out only.
Soccer fans looking to buy tickets for this summer’s FIFA World Cup at face value will have a final opportunity on April 1.
In what FIFA is calling its Last-Minute Sales Phase, soccer’s governing body will sell remaining tickets via FIFA.com/tickets on a first-come, first-served basis, starting at 11 a.m. Philadelphia time. This will mark the final round of a four-part sales phase that began last September.
Tickets will be subject to availability, but according to FIFA, once prospective buyers bypass the queue, they will be able to see the remaining matches still up for grabs. There are two ways to secure tickets: either by viewing the seat map to see the remaining options or by selecting the “Book the best seat” option in the selected venue.
Brazil’s Vinicius Junior will be one of the main draws for fans at this summer’s World Cup group stage matches in Philadelphia when it takes on Haiti on June 19.
FIFA also announced that on April 1, fans who secured seats in earlier phases will be able to see where their purchased seats were allocated within their category. In earlier sale phases, fans were only able to purchase tickets across the Category 1 (lower level, prime seating), Category 2 (mid-upper level), and Category 3 (upper level) options.
After April 1, any remaining tickets will go onto secondary reseller markets, of which FIFA will manage its own via FIFA.com/tickets. It’s the first time the organization has opted to introduce its own secondary market, saying that purchasing on its secondary site is “the official and preferred source for FIFA World Cup 2026 tickets.”
FIFA continues to face pushback from people who believe the organization is running a monopoly when it comes to its own tournament, one that comes at the expense of fans, considering this is the first time the organization has elected to adopt a dynamic pricing system.
“This is what happens when one entity controls both supply and distribution,” said Ahmed Nimale, a former executive at Live Nation who now oversees a New York-based ticketing provider called KYD Labs. “Without competition, there is nothing to keep pricing or fees in check, and fans are left with no real alternatives. FIFA directly owns, controls and manages all ticketing for the World Cup, one of the most-watched sporting events on the planet, expected to draw as many as 5.5 million fans.“
FIFA president Gianni Infantino claims that a large part of the revenue it generates goes back into supporting 211 member associations from around the world.
On Wednesday, a release from FIFA reaffirmed its claim that over 500 million ticket requests have been submitted since the initial draw phase, with over 1 million tickets being sold since Feb. 27. The organization also held a secret phase for fans who it felt missed out on the opportunity for earlier phases.
However, FIFA president Gianni Infantino has said previously that much of its revenue goes back into “growing the game,” adding Wednesday that the money it generates “fuels the growth of men’s, women’s and youth football throughout its 211 member associations.”
The principal of Abington Senior High School has been reinstated after an investigation into social media posts with antisemitic content.
Alice Swift, who was placed on leave Feb. 12, returned to school Wednesday. District officials said in a letter to high school staff and families Tuesday that the findings of a third-party investigation had supported Swift’s reinstatement.
The district had referred to allegations of “inappropriate social media posts” when it placed Swift on leave last month.
In the letter Tuesday, Superintendent Jeffrey Fecher said one of the posts “contained an antisemitic stereotype and was not aligned with the values of Abington School District.” He said the district could not provide further information about the posts.
“Given the sensitive nature of the posts that were called into question, we understand that there are members of our school community who may still be experiencing a sense of hurt, especially those in our Jewish community,” Fecher said.
He said the district would work with faith leaders and the Anti-Defamation League “to ensure that Dr. Swift, along with students and staff, receive additional programming and training that align with our commitment to fostering welcoming, safe and positive learning environments for all of our students.”
In a statement shared with staff and families Tuesday, Swift said that “recent content associated with my social media account has circulated within our community, and it is important to me that I address it directly.”
“I want to be clear that this content does not represent me, my values, or anything I would ever choose to share,” Swift said. “I recognize, however, that regardless of how this content came to be shared, it caused real distress for members of our school community.”
She said she accepted “full responsibility for not ensuring appropriate safeguards for my social media account, as the content does not reflect my core values and beliefs.”
District officials said Swift would be meeting with student and community groups over the coming weeks.
“I am pleased that Dr. Swift is willing to engage in such conversations in order to begin the process of restoring trust,” school board president Melissa Mowry said in Tuesday’s letter to families. “Central to this process is Dr. Swift’s welcome recognition that the post in question was corrosive and her explicit rejection of its antisemitism.”
A former teacher and administrator in Maryland schools, Swift became principal of Abington Senior High School in 2024. She graduated from Abington in 1983.
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Felix Reyes always tries to maintain a positive outlook.
The 24-year-old Phillies prospect’s Instagram handle is the_positive26. It was partially inspired by a character in one of his favorite shows, the Colombian crime drama Surviving Escobar: Alias JJ, who would always say “el positivo.”
Reyes decided to adopt it as a mantra.
“I embraced it,” the Dominican said through a team interpreter. “So I just remain optimistic from that point onward. Watching that, I just tried to change my attitude, and I’ve just embraced that. And from that moment, always, everything I do, everywhere I go and everything I work in, I just go with that optimistic mindset. Just say that it will be done, and I will be ready for it, and we’ll get the results.”
Over the last year, Reyes has seen plenty of results, and he believes his mindset is a main reason. After posting a .243 batting average and .656 OPS at high-A Jersey Shore in 2024, he had a breakout minor league season in 2025. He won the Eastern League batting title at double-A Reading with a .335 average, and was also first in OPS (.937).
Reyes had a six-game taste of triple A at the end of the season following a late promotion. In 101 games combined in 2025, he hit 16 homers.
Phillies prospect Felix Reyes (left) celebrates his three-run homer on Monday with Garrett Stubbs.
“I worked really hard over the offseason to get ready for last year,” Reyes said. “So I was just ready to go, and I was ready for whatever they needed from me. … But last year is in the past already. This is a new year. This is a new season. So I’m just focused on this year, and we’re just focusing on getting the same results. Trying to enjoy the experience.”
Reyes, at 6-foot-3, has a ton of raw power. He was extended a nonroster invite to major league spring training, and has continued to mash. He has hit .333 with three homers in 17 games. He was reassigned to minor league camp on Wednesday.
“He can crush the ball,” said Bryan De La Cruz, who was Reyes’ teammate in the Dominican Winter League on the Toros del Este.
Said manager Rob Thomson: “Every time he swings the bat, it’s on the barrel.”
In his first big league camp, Reyes is taking the opportunity to learn as much as he can from the major leaguers around him.
“Every moment that I’ve been in this camp is around big leaguers, and that’s where I want to be,” Reyes said. “That’s where you want to be as a player. So I just think it’s trying to share time with them, spend time with them, learn about them, learn about the experience that they bring. Embrace the good advice that they give us.”
There remains a question mark about Reyes’ defense. Last season, he split his time between first base, third base, and corner outfield positions for Reading and Lehigh Valley. He has primarily played first base during spring training, but he also made two appearances in left.
Thomson believes his defense is improving.
“He’s a lot more athletic and he’s faster than people give him credit for, and he handles himself very well in left field,” Thomson said. “His first base play has improved greatly. He’s really under control, and he never gets sped up, it seems to me. So he’s a pretty impressive kid.”
But Reyes’ right-handed power is ultimately his most valuable asset for the Phillies.
During Monday’s game against Detroit, Reyes went 3-for-4, including a three-run home run off Tigers starter Jack Flaherty that was 107.1 mph off the bat. He later crushed a single off Flaherty even harder, clocking a 110.7 mph exit velocity.
Seeing results off an established major league pitcher like Flaherty have helped build Reyes’ confidence, he said. That was something he had discussed with De La Cruz at the game.
“We were talking about confidence, and what can come from being confident in yourself when you’re out there playing,” De La Cruz said. “And how good that can be.”
