Mick Abel was the toast of Philly on Sunday afternoon. The former first-round pick was nothing short of sensational in his MLB debut, striking out nine batters and outdueling Paul Skenes over six shutout innings to lead the Phillies to a 1-0 victory over Pittsburgh.
It was a full circle moment for a young pitcher who has been through a lot in his professional career, as well as a huge boost to a Phillies roster reeling from star reliever Jose Alvarado’s 80-game suspension.
As expected, Abel was returned to Triple-A on Monday afternoon. Wait, what?
Yes, seriously. Philly demoted Abel to Lehigh Valley and called up Max Lazar to take his place on the MLB roster.
Philadelphia’s once-dominant pitching staff has taken a hit recently. Not only was Alvarado suspended (and thus ineligible to pitch in the postseason), but the team also lost struggling righty Aaron Nola to the injured list due to an ankle injury. Abel’s rise appeared to have provided Dave Dombrowski with the ideal solution: a ready-made top prospect who could hold down the rotation until Nola returned.
Instead, the Phillies instructed him to pack his bags. The team would rather stick with its veterans, even if one of them has been causing fans to pull their hair out for the better part of the last two years.
Phillies choose Taijuan Walker over Mick Abel in baffling roster decision
Cristopher Sanchez and Jesus Luzardo will start the Phillies’ first two road games this week, against the Colorado Rockies on Monday and Tuesday.
However, rather than having Ranger Suarez and Zack Wheeler pitch on normal rest Wednesday and Thursday, allowing Abel to make his second Major League start against the Athletics on Friday, the Phillies are going with an old nemesis: veteran Taijuan Walker, who has returned to the team’s rotation and will start in Colorado on Wednesday.
Yes, Walker has performed significantly better in 2025 than in 2024, with a 2.62 ERA in eight appearances (six starts) this season. However, those numbers overstate his actual effectiveness; he is still a mediocre journeyman who, at this point in his MLB career, should not be expected to turn a lineup over multiple times.
Despite this, the Phillies will ask him to do just that rather than give Abel another start. Yes, Philadelphia has gone 10 games without a day off, but they could have scheduled things so that everyone could have their normal four days of rest. This appears to be a straightforward endorsement of Walker over Abel, and it’s unclear how Dombrowski and Co. arrived at that conclusion.
Abel will undoubtedly grow as MLB teams adjust to having more video to sift through, but Walker is not setting a particularly high standard. And Abel’s ceiling is undeniably more appealing at this point, making this decision all the more perplexing — especially since we’re only talking about a couple of starts until Nola returns, which means the Phillies wouldn’t even be jeopardizing any workload limits they have for Abel this season.
