After stumbling into the season, the Phillies are five games above .500 and firmly in the mix for a National League wild-card spot. All of it would have felt unfathomable just six weeks ago. But a month-plus of stronger pitching, and stretches of better at-bats, has pushed the Phillies to a better place.Thank you for submitting questions. It was fun to see how many were about the minor leagues and the Phillies’ development process, along with everything going on at the major-league level. Some questions have been edited for clarity and length. Here we go.How many Phillies will make the All-Star team this year? — Scott C. My guess is four players will make the National League All-Star roster. I think it could be anywhere from four to six, however, once replacements are factored in. There are six Phillies with strong cases, in my opinion: Brandon Marsh, Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, Christopher Sánchez, Zack Wheeler and Jhoan Duran.Sánchez and Schwarber seem like no-brainers. Marsh and Harper are at crowded positions, so that could affect their outlook — though it is hard to imagine an All-Star Game in Philadelphia without Harper on the field. Wheeler and Duran have been excellent when available, but both have spent time on the injured list. That underscores just how good they’ve been when healthy — Wheeler impressing in his comeback post-thoracic outlet syndrome and Duran beginning the season 16-for-16 in save opportunities.Do you have any insight on whether the farm system is becoming better at developing after a few years under Dave Dombrowski and Preston Mattingly? The industry has typically ranked the system in the bottom of the league, but I’m wondering if these developments are catching the eye of other team officials. — Jim D. The state of affairs in the farm system is … not great. Adolis Garcia’s injury was a fresh reminder of how tenuous everything is. The Phillies have several would-be major-league-ready outfielders in Triple-A Lehigh Valley — Felix Reyes, Bryan De La Cruz, Otto Kemp — who could have factored in (though Kemp and Reyes do not play right field). Instead, the club acquired veteran Derek Hill in a trade with the Chicago White Sox and promoted Gabriel Rincones Jr. after 12 games in Triple A (post-rehab assignment) this season.For the record, I am curious to see how Rincones looks when facing pitchers not named Jacob Misiorowski. But the whole situation in the minors is suboptimal; this recent assessment from Matt Gelb captures a lot of it. There have been some positive developments, for sure. Bryan Rincon has made impactful mechanical adjustments. Moving Alex McFarlane into a relief role has worked out well. Gage Wood has been as good as expected. The international scouting department is having a great year, signing touted amateurs Chan-Min Park and Francisco Renteria. But overall, it is a bit bleak.What are the chances the Phillies send Andrew Painter down to the minors to work out some of his issues? Would they rather just have him take his lumps in the big leagues? Related: Do you think they’re likely to target a starting pitcher at the trade deadline if no difference-making hitter emerges on the market? — Ed M. More than one broadcast commentator has mentioned the possibility that Painter is tipping. Is that something the club has looked into, to your knowledge, and if so, how are they addressing it? — Ben C. The Phillies will not send Painter to the minors. Alan Rangel exists, I know, but the Phillies would prefer not to rely on him in the rotation unless there is an injury. The ideal scenario is Painter figuring it out, obviously. Perhaps they skip his turn in the rotation if this spiral continues, but for now, they are content to help him work through it in the majors.As for tipping: that is not among Painter’s problems. He could probably add more deception via greater extension or other mechanical changes, however. Some of those changes might be easier to implement during the offseason. For now, the Phillies just want to see progress every five days.Interim manager Don Mattingly told reporters in Milwaukee that he felt encouraged by what he saw from Painter on Friday — the rookie allowed five runs over five innings — particularly with being more aggressive. That is a trait Painter has talked about all season — trying to figure out when and how to be aggressive, and if he will have feel for pitches that will let him do so. It’s still a work in progress.There were several questions submitted about whether the Phillies will target a starting pitcher at the deadline. I wouldn’t be surprised if they look for some sort of swingman depth, but I don’t know that they’ll be prioritizing starting pitching — or that they have depth required to trade for a strong starting pitcher.What right-handed bats could they realistically try to get this year via trade? — Erik A.There were so many questions about the trade deadline, but the league-wide landscape is still taking shape. At this point, it is difficult to know who will be selling and who is available. The American League looks very, very up for grabs, which muddles things.I thought Ken Rosenthal’s recent column about Seiya Suzuki was interesting, particularly given the Phillies are now in need of a right-handed-hitting outfielder. As Ken noted, such players are going to be extremely valuable at the deadline given how poorly that group has performed overall. But do the Phillies have the depth for such a trade? Would they want to utilize whatever depth they have for a rental? Would Suzuki, who has a no-trade clause, want to come to Philadelphia? There are a lot of unknowns.This question deals with the drafting of Aidan Miller. Not once was his back mentioned in (past) prospect rankings, until news broke (more) recently about it. Yet, it has now been reported that he had back issues coming out of high school. I have to assume teams were told, right? Is that why he really slid in the draft and not his hand injury? — Mr. WilhelmThis question raises a lot of interesting points about the draft process that I thought were worth addressing. Miller was a high schooler when drafted with the 27th pick in 2023, so there would generally be less public information about his health than, say, a college pitcher with a shoulder impingement. There’s really no incentive for any potential draft pick to disclose injuries publicly — particularly when Miller, as Dombrowski has said, had not dealt with any real problems related to his back until last summer.Teams (and the public) were aware of Miller’s hamate injury, however, which led him to miss most of his senior year. Miller also participated in the draft combine, where teams have the opportunity to conduct and review player medical reports. Considering the Phillies saw he had back issues in the draft medicals, it is likely other teams did, too.It is unclear exactly why Miller slid in the draft — whether his hamate or something else was a factor. But I think it’s reasonable that nothing was disclosed about his back until it became a major problem last year.The organization has said that Miller, who recently underwent a procedure and has been out with back discomfort since February, could play in games as soon as late July or August.