Mick Abel was the toast of Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon. The former first-round pick was nothing short of sensational in his MLB debut, striking out nine batters and outduelling Paul Skenes over six shutout innings while leading the Phillies to a 1-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was a full-circle moment for a young pitcher who's been through a lot in his pro career, and a huge boost to a Philly roster reeling after the 80-game suspension of star reliever Jose Alvarado.
So naturally, on Monday afternoon, Abel was sent back to Triple-A. Wait ... what?
Yes, seriously: Philly demoted Abel to Lehigh Valley, calling up Max Lazar to take his spot on the MLB roster.
Philly's once-formidable pitching staff has taken a bit of a hit recently. Not only did Alvarado get suspended (and ruled ineligible to pitch in the postseason to boot), but the team also lost struggling righty Aaron Nola to the IL with an ankle injury. Abel's ascension seemingly gifted Dave Dombrowski the perfect solution, a ready-made top prospect who could hold down the fort in the rotation until Nola returned.
Instead, the Phillies told him to pack his bags. The team would rather roll with its veterans, even if one of those veterans has been making fans tear their hair out for the better part of the last two years.
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Phillies choose Taijuan Walker over Mick Abel in baffling roster decision
Cristopher Sanchez and Jesus Luzardo will start the first two games of Philly's road trip this week, pitching Monday and Tuesday against the Colorado Rockies. But rather than have Ranger Suarez and Zack Wheeler pitch on normal rest Wednesday and Thursday, allowing Abel to make a second start in the Majors against the Athletics on Friday, the Phillies are rolling with an old nemesis: veteran Taijuan Walker, who finds himself back in the team's rotation and will start in Colorado on Wednesday.
Yes, Walker has been far better so far in 2025 than he was in 2024, with a 2.62 ERA in eight appearances (six starts) this season. But those numbers overstate how effective he's actually been; this is still a mediocre journeyman, one who probably shouldn't be counted on to turn a lineup over multiple times at this point in his MLB career.
And yet, the Phillies will ask him to do just that anyway, rather than reward Abel with another start. Yes, Philly is in the midst of 10 straight games without an off day, but they could have lined things up such that everyone would have been able to go on their normal four days of rest. This feels like a pretty straight-forward endorsement of Walker over Abel, and it's hard to figure out how exactly Dombrowski and Co. came to that conclusion.
Abel will certainly have some growing to do as MLB teams adjust with more video to pore over, but it's not like Walker is setting the bar particularly high. And Abel's ceiling is inarguably more enticing at this point, which makes this decision all the more confusing — especially since we're just talking about a couple of starts until Nola returns, meaning the Phillies wouldn't even be jeopardizing any workload limits they have for Abel this year.