Phillies Fans Get First Chance To See Former Top Prospect Pitch for New Team

One of the past Philadelphia Phillies top prospects is in action.

Brett Davis-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies and their fans saw something on Friday night that doesn't happen often: Jhoan Duran blew a save.

After the flamethrowing righty has been nothing but dominant since coming to the Phillies as part of a trade deadline blockbuster, his perfect stretch ended when the Washington Nationals spoiled the ninth inning to hand him his first blown save with his new team.

Things like that happen, so it's not cause for concern at this point in time. But considering Philadelphia was coming off an incredible series against the Seattle Mariners, dropping Game 1 of this weekend set against their division rivals in this fashion was not what anyone wanted to see.

Still, the confidence is high in Duran, and if the Phillies had to go back do make that trade with the Minnesota Twins again, they would do it 1,000 times out of 1,000 and not even think twice about acquiring the superstar closer.

But Philadelphia didn't get him for nothing. They had to ship out two top five prospects in their pipeline -- starting pitcher Mick Abel and rising star catcher Eduardo Tait -- who were projected to play major roles with the franchise in the future.

Mick Abel Set To Make Twins Debut

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Using Abel to acquire Duran -- who has multiple years of club control remaining -- was smart, especially because it's unclear if the right-hander will ever turn into a top-end starting pitcher at the major league level.

While he had an incredible debut when he was called up to The Show -- tying Phillies history with nine strikeouts during his scoreless six innings of work -- he was largely lit up in his subsequent starts, giving up multiple runs in three out of his next five outings.

Now, Phillies fans will get to see what he can do for the Twins for the first time on Saturday, as the team officially announced that the 24-year-old had been called up and will start against the Chicago White Sox.

Mick Abel makes his Twins debut tonight! pic.twitter.com/B5jCSveCFM

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) August 23, 2025

No matter how Abel does, it's hard to imagine Philadelphia will regret their decision to go and get Duran since that move has completely transformed this bullpen unit to help them compete for a World Series championship this year.

While it might sting if Abel does turn into the type of starting pitching that someone who was taken 15th overall suggests he should be, the addition of Duran has given this team one of the best closers in baseball for at least the next two-and-a-half seasons, something they haven't had in a long time.