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Fantasy Baseball: Andrew Painter has victorious debut, Shohei Ohtani returns to the mound and more

By Scott PianowskiSky F1

Fantasy baseball analyst Scott Pianowski shares some thoughts and roster advice from Tuesday's MLB action.

We’re just a week into the fresh 2026 baseball season and so many rookies are making their mark. And it’s time to add Andrew Painter to the list. Painter is another post-hype kid to talk about.

He was a top 10 prospect on most boards entering 2023, but elbow problems and eventual Tommy John surgery knocked him out for a couple of years. He was healthy enough to return to a full season last year, but the results were mediocre — 5. 26 ERA, 1.

49 WHIP over 26 starts. We understand if you ignored Painter during draft season. Painter made the Philadelphia rotation off a solid spring, for whatever 11.

2 innings might mean to you (7 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 8 K). The more emphatic statement came Tuesday in his major-league debut, where he stopped the Nationals over 5. 1 innings (4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 8 K).