Mick Abel shutting off his brain, shutting down IronPigs foes

Mick Abel lied down Wednesday night and closed his eyes. While his body was ready for the rest after throwing 82 pitches in seven innings, his mind could not shut things down.

“After 15 or 20 minutes,” the 23-year-old said, “I’m wondering, ‘Am I going to fall asleep?’

“Typically, what happens is I stare at the ceiling, count sheep or think of some random story to tell myself.”

Abel’s mind got in the way of his body last year before, during and after he pitched for Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Things often went from bad to worse on the mound, then the Phillies’ 2020 first-round pick kicked himself while he was down late at night, in the clubhouse or during his daily pre-game workouts.

The Oregon native has done a 180-degree turn in 2025. He gave up a two-run home run three batters into his April 17 start in Gwinnett, then allowed nothing the rest of the way.

Abel on Tuesday gave up a leadoff triple in the second inning then balked the runner home. He allowed one hit in the next four innings before failing to cover first base on a grounder to first baseman Otto Kemp. That put runners on the corners with one out in a 1-1 game.

After a visit from IronPigs pitching coach Phil Cundari, Abel threw one more pitch –– a 6-4-3 double play.

Any one of those instances would have escalated last season. But maturity, confidence and consistency in his routine have allowed Abel to show growth in his first five starts of 2025.

A year after setting career highs in hits allowed, earned runs, walks, wild pitches, balks and losses, the 6-foot-5, 200-pounder has a 3.18 ERA and is allowing 3.5 walks per nine innings, down from 6.5 last season.

Abel finished seven innings Tuesday, just the second time in 89 career starts he’s done that.

In his April 5 start in Rochester, he pitched more than three innings, didn’t allow a run and didn’t walk a batter for the first as a professional. He allowed four hits and struck out seven in six shutout innings.

“I was getting my butt kicked for a while or I was doing the butt kicking,” Abel said. “Being at both ends of the spectrum, you’re going to learn something. But I feel getting my butt kicked for a while helped me get to this point now.”

Those who have been there for the struggles and the growth are not surprised. IronPigs manager Anthony Contreras praised Abel’s willingness no matter how much he was struggling to take the ball every time he was asked.

Those experiences provided the foundation of Abel’s mental toughness.

“What I see is maturity,” Contreras said, “a kid who has gone through the ups and downs, which are part of the minor league process. He’s hitting his stride and figuring out who he is, what he does well, what his process looks like behind the scenes.

“All those things stacked up together give him the ingredients to go out there and look like he has these last few starts.”

Abel stopped beating himself up over things he could not change. He also developed a routine for the days leading up to his starts.

He previously reacted on his off days to what happened during his outings. If his slider was hit hard a couple times and wasn’t located for strikes in a start, he’d pound his bullpen session with sliders. He’d lie at night thinking about the mistake sliders he threw.

Abel now has the opposite approach.

“What you have to do after a start is find little successes,” he said. “It’s a lot more important than looking at glaring failures that happen. It’s a lot more confidence inspiring, believing in yourself because you’re not thinking about failures so much.

“The outings that I’m having success can be attributed to me looking in the mirror and saying that it doesn’t matter what results say.”

Abel’s results last year were tough. He allowed 9.9 hits and 6.5 walks per nine innings. He gave up 15 home runs, threw nine wild pitches and had three balks in 108 2/3 innings. Opponents had a .390 on-base percentage.

Abel gave up eight runs on eight hits and three walks while getting only seven outs in his final start of 2024. He gained perspective after talking with Phillies organizational coaches, family and friends in the offseason, then prepared his body and cleared his mind before spring training 2025.

Abel didn’t change mechanics or tinker with grips. His lone focus was pitching. The next pitch. It has worked to this point.

Teaming several times this year with catcher Garrett Stubbs also has been pivotal in Abel’s process. Fans see the fun-loving jokester, but Stubbs is all business when he’s supposed to be. Abel has benefitted.

“We go through every hitter, dissect each hitter,” Abel said. “I’m still working to my strengths, but you see him on the days he’s playing, the way he’s preparing. I have admiration for how he prepares on days he’s catching. That is the next step, what I need to do before I go out there.”

Abel has polished his pre-game routine and his daily work between starts. He’s making every pitch in the bullpen, every rep in the weight room count.

It has added up to Abel being back in the conversation among potential future major league starters. The quality of his pitches – 2-seam and 4-seam fastballs, slider, curveball and changeup – have never been in doubt.

Now he’s making more quality pitches and minimizing the damage after a mistake, a fielding error, a broken-bat single, a balk, whatever.

“Taking no reps off,” Abel said, “that’s what gives me confidence going out there. It’s the simplest of things, but sometimes when you’re not focused on just that moment, it’s hard to compete.

“I practice that, working through adversities with that mentality.”

What has allowed Abel to not implode mentally after last year’s struggles is his understanding of what it is going to take for him to advance in the sport.

Contreras appreciates the way in which the Phillies’ No. 8 prospect, according to MLB.com is going about his business.

“The one thing I lean on and explain to people is that [Abel’s] process is at his speed,” the IronPigs manager said. “The worst thing we can do is speed up that process when they are not ready to do so. You see his demeanor, see him walking around. He’s losing that boyish look to him.

“Everything is coming around in a grown-up perspective. He just keeps building on top of each outing because of all the things he’s gone through in the past. Those are things he can lean on and go, ‘All right, I’ve been through this before.’

“If he keeps progressing the way he is progressing right now, who knows what it could look like. It’s the vision that was had when the Phillies were drafting Mick Abel. We’re seeing the reward of what we thought he could possibly be. It’s encouraging right now.”

Morning Call senior writer Tom Housenick can be reached at thousenick@mcall.com