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PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Four months ago, Mick Abel took the mound at Citizens Bank Park for his dazzling major-league debut and beat out Pirates ace Paul Skenes in a 1-0 Phillies win. Since that memorable start on May 18, the right-hander\u2019s surroundings have changed and the game has not been so forgiving to him. <\/p>\n
But in his final outing of the season, Abel will be back where it all started, facing his old team as a Minnesota Twin on Saturday in Philadelphia to close the book on his rookie year. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019ll be special,\u201d Abel said Friday from the visitors\u2019 clubhouse. \u201cThis place is a special place, just because I started my career here and was able to at least make an impression. I\u2019m super excited for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
A first-round draft pick out of high school in 2020, Abel was a top prospect in the Phillies system who struggled mightily in his first full year at Triple-A Lehigh Valley in 2024. But as he returned to the same level at the start of this season, he bounced back with an improved approach to the mental side of pitching. His performance in the minor leagues earned him a spot start when the Phillies needed it in that game versus Pittsburgh, and he delivered with six scoreless innings.<\/p>\n
Abel later returned to Philadelphia\u2019s rotation for five additional starts, which did not go as smoothly despite some more positive flashes. With a surplus of starting pitchers, the club sent Abel to the Twins in a deal that netted them closer Jhoan Duran at the trade deadline. After parts of six years in one organization with plenty of ups and downs, Abel\u2019s tenure with the Phillies was up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI made a lot of really good relationships over there,\u201d Abel said. \u201cIt was definitely hard at first to accept that. I think that was the hardest part about getting traded. But they really helped build me up as to who I am today.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 24-year-old has split time between Triple-A St. Paul and Minnesota since the deadline, and the major-league results have not been ideal for the young pitcher. In three appearances (one start, two out of the bullpen) for the Twins, Abel has allowed 13 earned runs in eight innings. However, his new club is not in contention and likely won\u2019t be next season after acting as big sellers this summer. Abel should be able to find some runway.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great,\u201d Kody Clemens, a former teammate of Abel\u2019s at Lehigh Valley who\u2019s also now with the Twins, said. \u201cI think there\u2019s obviously a bigger opportunity for him here, for him to go out and relax and get multiple starts under his belt in the big leagues. I\u2019m sure there\u2019s a spot for him in their starting rotation next season. So I\u2019m excited for him to just continue to settle in in the big leagues and show what he\u2019s got.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a talented, veteran rotation in Philadelphia, it just wasn\u2019t a fit for Abel in the short or long term.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy for Mick, too, because he\u2019s going to get a real opportunity,\u201d Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. \u201cHe\u2019s got really good stuff. He\u2019s got a really bright future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abel said he was looking forward to seeing \u201ceverybody in that clubhouse\u201d while in Philly, and he had a chance to check in with one of his close friends in the organization, Griff McGarry, who was at the ballpark after receiving the club\u2019s Paul Owens Award given to the top minor-league pitcher and position player each year. Abel also said he\u2019ll be watching when the Phillies compete in the postseason. He did have a part in their success, after all.<\/p>\n
With only two games left in the regular season, Philadelphia will send out left-hander Ranger Su\u00e1rez against Abel in the penultimate matchup. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really cool being back here,\u201d Abel said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of a cool ending of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Former Phillie Mick Abel will start for the Twins on Saturday. (Madeline Ressler\/Phillies Nation) PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Four months ago, Mick Abel took the mound at Citizens Bank Park for his dazzling major-league debut and beat out Pirates ace Paul Skenes in a 1-0 Phillies win. Since that memorable start on May 18, the right-hander\u2019s surroundings … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Phillies-set-to-face-old-friend-young-pitcher-Mick-Abel.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4238"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4240,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4238\/revisions\/4240"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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