Fans have been clamoring for prospects Andrew Painter and Justin Crawford to join the big league club for a while now. Phillies president Dave Dombrowski had predicted Painter would join the team somewhere around the all-star break, which was nearly a month ago now. The speculation around Crawford has not been quite as feverish, but with the deliberations around who should be playing in center field and left field, Crawford’s name has come up.

Painter has struggled this season with Lehigh Valley. The primary concern is that he has not been able to get left-handed hitters out with any consistency. Lefties are batting .309 with a .384 on-base percentage against him while right-handers are hitting .235 with a .290 on-base percentage. It is also concerning that he has allowed 14 home runs – 10 to right-handed hitters, four to left-handed hitters – in his 16 starts with the IronPigs.

“I think it comes down to location,” said Painter after his latest outing on Sunday. “I need to locate my pitches better against left-handers. Sometimes I have trouble with my fastball where it kind of flattens out and is easy to hit.”

Meanwhile, Crawford very likely would be in Philadelphia except for one thing that he can’t really help; he bats left-handed. The Phillies lineup already has a number of left-handed bats in the lineup, which has left Crawford sitting at Triple-A until a spot opens for him.

The question is, are either of the players ready to play at the next level?

When the Phillies are considering whether a player is ready to join the big league club, there are a couple resources they call on. First, they can send a scout to watch the team for a few days and give their opinion. Second, and most importantly, they can check with the team’s manager. After all, a scout sees a small sample size of what a player is capable of while the manager sees the player every day and also knows how they handle themselves behind the scenes.

Anthony Contreras recently became the all-time IronPigs leader in wins as a manager and is in his fourth season with Lehigh Valley. The Phillies trust him to develop young players, and he has had success developing guys like Otto Kemp, who has gone from nowhere on the radar at the beginning of the season to a platoon player in Philadelphia. The Phillies also trust Contreras to evaluate who is and is not ready. So, what does Contreras look for?

“I think it’s the overall package. The stats tell a story, but the way the kid plays the game and are the baseball instincts there? It’s crunch time and you’ve got to get a sacrifice bunt down, do you make decisions wisely that are not going to hurt the big league team when he goes up there,” said Contreras, speaking in general terms about what he uses to gauge whether a player is ready for the majors. “That’s why we spend so much time developing those parts of the game. A lot of times I’m managing the game and evaluating those things, so it’s more on the trust factor.”

Painter clearly needs to figure out a way to get left-handed hitters out. In a recent start against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the Yankees affiliate, manager Shelly Duncan stacked the lineup with eight left-handed hitters and a switch-hitter. If teams are doing that and having success with it at the Triple-A level, you know it’s going to happen in the majors.

Using Contreras’ reasoning, Crawford may be closer to being ready but happened to be born left-handed. At some point, the Phillies will find a spot for him but for now, he is biding his time at Triple-A and waiting for that moment.

THE OTHER NOLA… While Aaron Nola was making a rehab start with Lehigh Valley Wednesday night, his older brother, Austin, was in Colorado as a member of the Rockies as they played the Toronto Blue Jays. With the visitors leading 12-1, Austin Nola, who is normally a catcher and occasional first baseman, was called on to pitch. Let’s say that nobody would ever confuse the two Nola brothers on the mound. Austin was hit for eight earned runs on eight hits and allowed two home runs. On the bright side, he didn’t walk anybody.

REMEMBER THIS GUY?… Joe Bisenius spent two seasons as a reliever for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. After his playing career ended, Bisenius went into scouting and is now an area scout for the Minnesota Twins. While Bisenius was with Lehigh Valley in 2008 and 2009, he has a connection to the 2025 IronPigs. It was Bisenius who scouted and signed pitcher Austin Schulfer, who the Twins drafted in the 19th round of the 2018 Draft. Schulfer was activated from the IL this past week and pitched in the series against the RailRiders. Unfortunately, he was later released by the Phillies.

GONE AGAIN… Nabil Crismatt had opted out of his contract with the Phillies earlier this season only to re-sign with the team and come back to Lehigh Valley. At the end of July he again opted out of his minor league contract and became a free agent. This time he signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks, also on a minor league contract. Outfielder Oscar Mercado also elected to opt out of his minor league deal and so far, has gone unsigned.

THAT’S NOT NICE... Contreras became the winningest manager in IronPigs history in game one of Wednesday’s doubleheader against Scranton when he won his 287th game. In the first inning of game two, Contreras was ejected for arguing a call on a stolen base attempt and spent the rest of the game watching on television from his office. In general, the umpiring in the series with the RailRiders was pretty bad with several arguments taking place. A high number of pitches were challenged and overturned as well.