Phillies Send Mick Abel Back To Triple-A After Two Poor Outings

The Philadelphia Phillies and their fanbase got a glimpse at past first-round pick Mick Abel.

But they will have to wait to see him again after the team announced they have optioned him back to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, with Seth Johnson being recalled as the corresponding move.

Selected 15th overall in the 2020 draft, the highly-touted right-hander finally was called up to The Show this year after he ran into some major issues at Triple-A last season.

Unsure of how the young 23-year-old would perform at the highest level, Abel caught the attention of everyone in the baseball world when he tied a franchise record for a debut by striking out nine batters across six shoutout innings while going toe-to-toe with Pittsburgh Pirates phenom Paul Skenes.

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He continued that strong play during his next start, giving up just one run in 5 1/3 innings against a stout Toronto Blue Jays lineup, which seemingly gave the Phillies yet another high-end starting pitcher.

But since those two outings, there have been more downs than ups.

Abel allowed three earned runs against the Chicago Cubs on three homers in his third start, and even though he rebounded to throw a gem versus the Miami Marlins, his last two outings have not gone as planned.

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Against the New York Mets, Abel was cruising before he gave up four solo home runs to end his night after three innings pitched. And then in his last outing against the San Diego Padres, his lack of command reared its ugly head, resulting in two runs being walked home before a bases clearing double ended his day just 1 2/3 innings in.

After allowing just five total runs in his first four starts, he gave up nine in his last two.

Sending the youngster back down to work on some things is not the end of the world, but this stretch might have hurt his trade value if that's the direction Philadelphia was interested in taking.

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Johnson is back with the big league club after pitching in the first game of the doubleheader on Wednesday as the 27th man on the roster.

He showed well during his second appearance in The Show this year, throwing two scoreless innings where he didn't allow a hit and struck out two with no walks.

The Phillies converted Johnson into a reliever ahead of this season believing he could better help the team in that role instead of continuing to be a starting pitcher. So the former top prospect should be someone to keep an eye on going forward to see if he can emerge into a much-needed bullpen arm.

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