Mick Abel News: Shines in spring debut

Abel threw three scoreless innings with five strikeouts and no walks in his spring debut Monday against Detroit. He reached 97 mph with his fastball during the outing, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

Abel is competing for one of three open spots in the Minnesota rotation with Pablo Lopez out for the season after Tommy John surgery. Abel has not lived up to his No. 15 overall draft pick selection in 2020 as before last season he had unimpressive ERAs and troubling walk rates (4.76 ERA the previous two seasons in Triple-A and Double-A with Philly). He did have a 2.20 ERA and 10.4 K/9 at Triple-A in 2025 but struggled with a 6.46 ERA in the majors. A high walk rate (6.5 BB/9 in the majors last season) has been a problem, so it was a good sign he didn't issue any walks Monday.