PHILADELPHIA — You could pick the narrative lens through which to view Mick Abel on Sunday, and none would disappoint.
There is the story of the first-round pick who appeared to lose his way in Triple A in 2024, yet in the big leagues looked in complete control.
There is the tale of a team starting Sunday by losing a key pitcher for the next 80 games and maybe finding one for much longer.
And there was the battle of first-round talents in their early 20s, the more hyped of the two throwing his first career big-league complete game yet still coming out on the wrong side of the ledger.
Abel’s 1-0 win over Paul Skenes and the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday may prove to be many things in time. But for the moment, it was one pitcher’s triumph over his past struggles, showing on the biggest stage just how talented a prospect he is.
Abel was brilliant, throwing six shutout innings, allowing only five singles, no walks and nine strikeouts. He threw 62 of his 84 pitches for strikes, including first-pitch strikes to 16 of 22 batters. The operative descriptor from the opposing dugout for his stuff was “electric.”
Even with the caveats of the Pirates struggling offense — a 3-13 record and the second-fewest homers and runs scored in MLB since May 1 — Abel impressed.
He tied Curt Simmons’ 1947 debut for the most strikeouts by a Phillies pitcher in their first start. Abel’s control, which had betrayed him so much in 2024, made Sunday’s result even more perfect.
“I felt like I wasn’t really trying to do too much,” Abel said. “I think the adrenaline definitely was pumping up the velo a little bit more. But really, I was just trying to go out there and have fun and enjoy the moment, try to get guys out.”
Abel, the 15th overall pick in 2020, struggled mightily in Triple A last season. He went 3-12 with a 6.46 ERA and 1.81 WHIP, thanks in large part to 78 walks in 108 innings. In eight starts this year, he is 5-2 with a 2.53 ERA.
“He’s really grown up,” manager Rob Thomson said. “I think he slowed everything down today, stayed in the moment. And that’s part of the experience of growing up, and it’s really good to see.”
Abel started with a 98-mph fastball that Oneil Cruz fouled off. He struck Cruz out on four pitches, with three four-seamers, then a curveball that Cruz swung over, his first of four strikeouts.
Abel also struck out Bryan Reynolds in the first inning, a textbook fastball-curve-curve sequence to get him looking. He pitched around two singles in the first.
He fanned the side in the second, Alexander Canario looking at an 89-mph slider on the black for a 3-pitch strikeout, then got Isiah Kiner-Falefa on three pitches.
He worked around two singles in the third, survived an 11-pitch battle with Adam Frazier in the fourth and capped the fifth by freezing Cruz with a curve. He got Andrew McCutchen looking to start the sixth, one of only three three-ball counts he pitched to.
“It’s more attacking the hitter, first-pitch strikes,” said catcher Rafael Marchan, who also caught Abel in Triple A much of last year. “When he’s ahead, he has really good stuff to get hitters out, and that’s what he showed today.”
The other factors swirling around Abel’s debut were out of his control.
He matched up with Skenes, the No. 1 overall pick in 2023 and last year’s National League Rookie of the Year. Skenes went eight innings for his first complete game in the bigs — though he insists on the asterisk — allowing three hits and one walk with nine strikeouts.
“I was fired up to pitch against him today,” Skenes said. “I’ve never met him. I think we probably played in some tournaments growing up, but I remember him being the guy in high school. The stuff’s electric, from what guys were saying coming back into the dugout. I’ll probably re-watch his start and I’ll watch his next start.”
Skenes, with his laser focus, wasn’t tracking Abel’s performance. But the other reports from the Pirates’ dugout were glowing.
“Electric stuff,” manager Don Kelly said. “Just the way he got after it and mixed everything up, too. His fastball velo was elite, then throwing that curveball that really had a lot of depth to it gave our guys a lot of trouble.”
Abel’s performance was a balm to an ailing clubhouse that absorbed news that Jose Alvarado was suspended 80 games for a positive test for performance-enhancing drugs. Abel is several steps removed from helping fill the void left by the hard-throwing lefty. But he is another piece to the pitching puzzle.
That leaves just Abel’s personal accomplishment. He treated family and friends to a dream day at the ballpark, an hour-and-59-minute duel between pitchers with bright futures.
From the phenom Skenes, it may have been expected. But for Abel, the adversity overcome last year sweetened the taste even more.
“There were times where I didn’t think I would be here, but there were other times where I would,” he said. “I think it’s just going through the ups and downs and trying to understand how to go through things.”
Source: Berkshire mont