When it comes to the Philadelphia Phillies' top pitching prospect Mick Abel, he has certainly endured quite the whirlwind journey over the past couple of years. After appearing to be on the fast track to the big leagues as close as the 2023 season, Abel encountered various obstacles in 2024 that inadvertently stalled his growth and development in becoming a legitimate MLB pitcher.
With the memories from last year completely behind him, the young 23-year-old prospect has gotten off to a solid start this season with the Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate Lehigh Valley IronPigs.
Phillies' No. 8 prospect Mick Abel couldn’t have asked for a better start to the 2025 season
Abel had a forgettable season debut against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, yielding four runs over five innings of work. However, he had a much more promising second start against the Rochester Red Wings. Abel held them scoreless with zero walks and seven strikeouts over six innings.
On top of that, his devastating fastball was clocking over 97 mph in his dominant outing. He threw 59 of his 89 pitches for strikes, per MiLB.com, generating 15 whiffs. Plus, it was his first outing without issuing a walk since 2023.
With that start under his belt, the right-hander couldn’t have asked for a better start to the 2025 season.
.@mickabel13 hit the gas for the @IronPigs yesterday with fastballs reaching over 97 MPH
— Phillies Player Development (@PhilsPlayerDev) April 6, 2025
6.0 IP | 4 H | 0 ER | 0 BB | 7 K pic.twitter.com/ac0UDL9Pmi
This is especially true after last year, when Abel consistently struggled with his control and command. He ended up posting the worst numbers of his professional career as a result.
In 24 starts with Lehigh Valley, he recorded a dismal 3-12 record with a gaudy 6.46 ERA and 1.81 WHIP. He gave up 78 earned runs, including 15 home runs, along with a whopping 78 walks and 117 strikeouts in 108 2/3 innings pitched.
Mick Abel is looking to rebuild his prospect stock in 2025
With that performance, Abel saw his stock plummet. After beginning the 2023 and 2024 seasons as the No. 2 prospect in the Phillies organization, he fell to No. 8 to start 2025, according to MLB Pipeline.
But all was not lost for the right-hander, despite his career appearing to be headed off the rails. The Phillies made a bold move to help salvage his 2024 campaign by putting him through stints on the development list during the latter parts of the season. In doing so, Abel was able to regain some of his prior form. He held the opposition to two earned runs or less in four of his last seven starts, while averaging more than a strikeout per inning.
Following the promising end to last season, he was looking forward to build upon that brief success in the upcoming year. With a solid start to 2025, Abel could be well on his way to redemption to rekindle hopes of eventually making his major league debut sooner rather than later.