Philadelphia Phillies Top Pitching Prospect Remains Dominant at Lehigh Valley

The 2024 season was a brutal one for Philadelphia Phillies right-handed pitching prospect Mick Abel.

Abel, whom the Phillies selected with the 15th overall pick in the first round of the 2020 MLB draft, quickly established himself as one of the most well-regarded young arms in the game.

Heading into the 2023 season, MLB Pipeline ranked him No. 48 in its top 100, while Baseball America (No. 40) and Baseball Prospectus (No. 36) were even more bullish on his stock.

A mediocre age-21 season with Double-A Reading in which he posted a 4.14 ERA in 22 starts caused some to cool their jets a bit, but Philadelphia saw enough to move him up to Triple-A for all of 2024 regardless.

Things spiraled out of control there, as Abel made 24 starts and got tattooed for much of the year, resulting in a 6.56 ERA while he issued an astounding 78 walks in 108.2 innings.

A 1.81 WHIP torpedoed his season, even as he struck out more than a batter per inning.

The nightmare campaign was enough to end Abel's status as a top 100 prospect league-wide, and he fell from being the No. 2 prospect in the Phillies system before 2024 all the way down to No. 8 pre-2025, according to MLB Pipeline.

There did not seem to be much reason for optimism when Abel first took the ball in this year's spring training, as he allowed three earned runs in an inning and two-thirds.

It felt as though perhaps president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski had missed an opportunity to sell high on Abel a couple of years ago to add to the team's core during its window of contention, but Abel has spent the 2025 season storming back.

Through six starts, the 23-year-old Oregon native owns a 2.88 ERA and has struck out 36 hitters in 34.1 innings.

Perhaps most encouragingly, he has significantly curtailed his walk rate, down to 3.4 per nine innings from 6.5 a year ago.

His 1.25 WHIP is much improved, and the run prevention is following.

Abel's numbers will only improve following his seventh start on Sunday against the Rochester Red Wings, when he blanked the Washington affiliate for five innings while striking out six.

The former top prospect's resurgence is a welcomed sight for Philadelphia, as Abel could now theoretically provide strong starting depth to the team's rotation as the season moves on

Alternatively, if he keeps it up, his trade value is back to the point where he could be the centerpiece of a deal that lands the Phillies a major contributor at the deadline.

Whether it's in Philadelphia or elsewhere, Abel has taken major steps toward increasing the likelihood of establishing himself as a reliable rotation arm at the Major League level.