Phillies option No. 8 overall prospect

The Philadelphia Phillies made a stunning move on Monday. After a great performance on the mound from rookie Mick Abel in his debut, the Phillies optioned him to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. As the corresponding move, the Phillies brought up right-hander Max Lazar.

This is a move many did not see coming after Abel shut out the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday in the 1-0 victory. The Sunday afternoon contest did not showcase the bats. The only run came from a fielder’s choice. Abel not only had the nerves of playing in his major league debut, but he had to go up against Paul Skenes, who is the next pitching phenom. Furthermore, Skenes debuted last season and showed a ton of success right away. Despite all those nerves, Abel controlled his focus and pitched six scoreless innings, allowing only five hits and K’d up nine. His stuff was nasty. He could have stayed in the contest longer, but was pulled after 84 pitches, throwing 62 strikes.

Phillies’ closer Jordan Romano had great things to say about Abel after his electrifying debut. Manager Rob Thomson also had confident words for the young pitcher.

“For him to come up here in this atmosphere, throw 74 percent strikes, land his breaking ball, get a lot of swing and miss… just very, very impressive,” Thomson said postgame. “Poise level was really, really good.”

Its unclear why the Phillies made this move, but maybe they needed another strong arm for the series coming up against the Colorado Rockies in the Mile High City. You never know what you will see at Coors Field, it’s never a bad thing having an extra arm available with a lot of runs expected to be scored in that series.

Mick Abel impressed. It is only a matter of time until the Phillies bring him back to the big leagues. Abel is the No. 8 overall prospect in the organization.