Twins find gem in Abel

Mar 4, 2026 By NATHAN MAYBERG 7 min read

Amid all the turmoil and changes the Twins have gone through this past year, they may have found a gem underneath their rubble of a season last year.

It’s the kind of gem that can change a team’s fortunes for a decade. In baseball, now more than ever due to the high rate of injuries, sustained greatness can be fleeting but if Mick Abel can give the Twins what he showed Sunday in Fort Myers and showed in his last two games last September he could be the find of a lifetime.

Abel struck out six batters from the Atlanta Braves and only allowed one hit over three scoreless innings at Hammond Stadium during a spring training game on Sunday with whiplash stuff that had all the markings of a future ace.

With a fastball beaming at 98 mph, Abel was able to get swings and misses on all of his pitches. The confident and towering 6’5 right-hander deployed an arsenal of secondary pitches that included a changeup and slider that he threw interchangeably between 87 mph and 89 mph, an 84 mph sweeper and an 82-83 mph curveball.

It’s his curveball which was his toughest pitch to hit last year, with hitters limited to a .198 average against the pitch. With Abel’s plus-plus stuff, his hook of a curve can lock up opposing batters.

On Sunday, Abel wasn’t facing the starting lineup of the Atlanta Braves. He wasn’t even facing hitters who are likely to see significant playing time this season in the majors but that didn’t matter. The stuff was there.

His outing was nearly identical to one last week where he struck out five Tigers batters over three scoreless innings while facing a much better lineup.

In a season where the Twins have already lost one of their best pitchers in Pablo Lopez for the season, seen their other frontline starter Joe Ryan deal with a back flareup, and a third pitcher David Festa dealing with a shoulder impingement, they could use Abel in a big way.

While one pitcher alone can’t save a season, the 24-year-old Abel can give the Twins and their fans something to look forward to and dream about. The team’s rotation hasn’t been set yet, given the injuries and other question marks surrounding the staff, but it would be hard to envision this team breaking camp without the pitcher who might have as much upside as anyone in the clubhouse.

A first-round pick by the Philadelphia Phillies, the Twins acquired him at the trade deadline last summer along with catching prospect Eduardo Tait by shipping away their triple-digit throwing closer Jhoan Duran.

Abel has dealt with adversity to get to this point. An injury to his non-throwing shoulder sidelined him in high school in Oregon but he recovered to lead his high school team to a state championship as a junior. He was twice named the Oregon Gatorade Player of the Year and was set to pitch at Oregon State University until covid canceled the season.

After being drafted by Philadelphia with the 15th overall pick in 2020, he didn’t dominate the minors his first few seasons of professional ball. He dealt with shoulder tendinitis in his first season in the minors in 2021 but has since shown himself to be a durable starter. His debut in the majors last year was completely unexpected off a 2024 season in which he pitched to a 6.46 ERA at Triple-A Lehigh Valley. That’s how quick things can change in baseball for a young pitcher. Like Hall of Fame Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay before him, Abel bounced back out of nowhere last year after a call up to the majors in May with the Phillies with four strong games.

Abel had posted a 2.53 ERA to start the season in Triple-A when he was called up to throw against the Pirates on May 18. Abel threw six scoreless innings against the Pirates, allowing five hits and striking out nine.

After four games in the big leagues, Abel was throwing to a miniscule 2.21 ERA. His next two starts at Citizens Bank Park, a hitter’s park in Philadelphia, Abel gave up nine runs over four and two-thirds innings. That led to a trip back to Triple-A before he was traded to the Twins.

The Twins sent him to St. Paul where he owned minor league hitters again, allowing just three runs and seven hits over 15 innings in his three Triple-A games. After getting called back up to the majors, Abel again struggled in two games and was sent back down again. Abel was called back up in September to throw two games at the end of the season against the Cleveland Indians and Philadelphia Phillies. In those two games, Abel seemed to finally get back to his winning ways. In those two games, he allowed just four hits and two runs over the 10 innings he pitched.

In the last game against his old team, Abel threw six scoreless innings and notched nine strikeouts with one walk at Philadelphia.

Abel, who grew up admiring two of the great pitchers of the last generation in Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer, said he has learned to pay attention to detail. “Attention to detail is huge,” Abel said.

Abel said he has changed some small things in getting his body ready. “If anything has changed, it’s how consistently I am doing things,” Abel said. Abel said in the offseason he will lift four days a week, which might come as a surprise for a pitcher who looks similar in built like the player he has looked up to the most in deGrom.

In baseball, physique can be deceptive. For pitchers, pure arm strength is not always as important as elasticity and athleticism. The mechanics between leg movement and the flexibility in the arm to sling and snap a leather ball can outweigh other physical attributes in an era where players spend so much of their time in the weight room.

Twins Manager Derek Shelton is impressed though he isn’t ready to anoint Abel as the savior of the Twins yet.

“His execution was really good today,” Shelton said.

“He is a young kid, it’s not like we want to say ‘hey once every five days he is the guy’ but I think the things we have seen out of him are really encouraging,” Shelton said. “It’s been really promising.”

With the team facing several injuries to his pitchers already, Shelton doesn’t think the 24-year-old Abel will need any special protection. “We just need to let him pitch,” Shelton said.

While the Braves didn’t send over any starters from their batting lineup on Sunday, they did send out a tough right-hander in their starter Grant Holmes. Holmes threw two and two-thirds scoreless innings against the Twins. While not as electric as Abel, he mixed in a hard-biting 93 mph fastball with a sharp 90 mph cutter, an 82 mph curve, along with a mid-80’s slider and changeup to keep the Twins off balance.

Brewer Hicklen homered for the Braves in the fifth inning off Twins southpaw Connor Prielipp to put Atlanta up 1-0.

The Twins responded in the sixth inning with sacrifice flyouts from Kody Clemens and James Outman to go up 2-1, bringing a roar from the Fort Myers crowd.

Braves prospect John Gil hit a home run just over the left field fence in the eighth inning off Twins reliever Eric Orze to tie the game 2-2.

To reach NATHAN MAYBERG, please email nmayberg@breezenewspapers.com